Daily Times Editorial May 17, 2013

The rigging controversy The elections of May 11 have been overtaken by controversy about allegations (and some eyewitness accounts) of rigging on some seats. Thus the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has organised sit-ins in Lahore and Karachi against alleged rigging by the party’s opponents, a sit-in that continues despite five days having elapsed already. In Karachi the MQM until yesterday had its own sit-in ongoing in NA-250 with the demand that re-polling in certain polling stations in the constituency would not do and that a complete re-election be held there. The PML-F is charging the PPP with rigging in Sindh, while the JUI-F is accusing the PTI of rigging (and therefore a false mandate) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). What is also interesting in this current of accusations and counter-accusations is the fact that parties are hurling these accusations against rivals where they or their allies have lost (e.g. the PML-N supporting the PML-F in Sindh, JUI-F accusing the PTI in KP, PTI accusing the MQM in Karachi, though not perhaps without weight, the nationalist parties generally in Balochistan, etc), while denying any rigging where they have won (e.g. the PML-N in Punjab). Imran Khan, still recuperating in hospital from the fall has issued a three-day ultimatum to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to address the complaints of rigging on at least 25 seats or face a movement against the failure of the ECP to respond. After initial shilly-shallying and foot dragging, the ECP has finally been forced by the pressure of public opinion to move on the complaints. It is contemplating finger print verification through the NADRA database, although some experts are sceptical whether this is technically possible. The best solution to this conundrum and unseemly controversy is that the ECP should investigate the complaints, order appropriate remedial measures, which could include recounting, re-polling in certain polling stations, or even re-elections in certain constituencies. This approach would salvage the transparency of what otherwise is a credible election as a whole. The controversy over 25 (or even more) seats should not be allowed through ECP neglect to wash away the credibility of the election as a whole. The likely outcome of this re-examination of the elections on this number of seats is that either the results will be upheld or overturned. If the latter, these seats will logically end up being divided amongst various parties throughout the country. This means that the results of the election will not be affected materially, since by now the PML-N is close to the 130 mark in the National Assembly, with independents joining every day and the prospect of 60 women’s and 10 minorities’ reserve seats looming as soon as parliament meets. In the provinces, the Punjab and Sindh are a done deal, the former in favour of the PML-N, the latter in favour of the PPP with possibly the MQM in a coalition. Balochistan is still a mixed bag amidst a welter of accusations by the nationalists that they were not allowed to campaign freely and prevented from functioning on election day, which has deprived them of their mandate. Challenges to the ECP are expected from such controversial seat results from there too. In KP it is heartening to note that JUI-F’s Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s conspiracy to deny PTI its first right to form a government in the province was sought to be sabotaged by his proposed alliance with the PML-N and Sherpao’s Qaumi Watan Party (QWP). Nawaz Sharif has shown maturity and statesmanship in rebuffing the Maulana and vowing to respect the mandate of the PTI in KP. PTI by now has the Jamaat-i-Islami on its side in a coalition government in the province, so that effort of the Maulana seems by now to be dead in the water. Reservations, doubts and challenges to the results in a number of seats notwithstanding, all the parties should emulate the example set by the PPP and ANP in accepting the mandate of the people even when it went against them. This is the true democratic spirit. The more gracefully all parties handle themselves in the aftermath of the elections, the smoother will be the task of government formation, and the sooner will the country settle down to the real task: confronting the myriads of serious issues afflicting the country. We hope the political parties will live up to the expectations of the people in this regard and behave with exemplary maturity and in a true democratic spirit.