PAKISTANIS have reason to rejoice. The outcome of the ninth national elections has prompted the beginning of the much needed democratic process and the realisation that Pakistan needs to move ahead as a secure, prosperous and strong nation.


The majority consensus is that democracy is a necessary factor for Pakistan's economic, socio-cultural and political development. Without genuine democracy Pakistan is also not viewed internationally as a mature and responsible nation.

The fears of sabotage of the election process, either through suicide bombings or through major rigging on the polling day, did not fortunately materialise. The security arrangements prevented major violence although tragically about 25 people were killed in election day violence. There were also sporadic attempts to rig the elections either through using unfair influence of Nazims (intimidation) or through fraudulent means like stealing ballot papers, etc. Yet major rigging was prevented by the democratic deterrents including political workers, the energy of the voters, keen media watch and observer groups including FAFEN.

Election results indicate the general fairness of the election process. Virtually the entire PML-Q federal cabinet, the bigwigs including the president, Chaudary Shujaat, Shiekh Rashid and Huamyun Akhtar have all lost. The IB chief's brother too lost from Punjab perhaps suggesting that the fears of the agencies roles in manipulating the polls was not entirely true. The results of the ninth national election is generally being accepted across the board by all political parties. While the democratic deterrent prevented major rigging attempts, the Musharraf government too was prompted by various factors to become wizened against rigging. The pro-PML-Q and the pro-Musharraf caretaker government was unable to influence the election outcome.

There are some interesting and significant facts that flow from the election outcome. Eleven are noteworthy.

One, that the election was an anti-Musharraf and anti-PML(Q) referendum. The voters ultimately overlooked some of the positive steps taken by the Musharraf government and voted against him for inflation, for the flour, electricity and gas crisis, the lack of his political legitimacy, the manipulation of the constitution, the manipulation of politics, his broken promises, the treatment of the chief justice, the ransacking of the judiciary, the flawed policy on terrorism. Ultimately, people have voted to say no to establishment manipulated politics and yes to genuine political forces. As for the president's political future, much will depend on the PPP strategy towards him.

Two, the PPP has emerged as the only national party bagging national and provincial assembly seats in all the four provinces. That has traditionally been PPP's political profile when it has fought in a less than completely rigged electoral process. Benazir Bhutto's tragic assassination must have prompted some habitual fence-sitters to vote for PPP too but to explain the PPP victory only in terms of sympathy wave would be incorrect. The last 70 days of Benazir's politics after she returned to Pakistan on October 18 did underscore the need for genuine democracy, for upholding rule of law, for ending poverty and for ending terrorism. She astutely took on the establishment and indeed ensured the return of genuine popular politics to Pakistan by deciding to engage with General Parvez Musharraf. Indeed, even after her return, Benazir Bhutto remained engaged with the president and the establishment. She travelled the paradoxical path -- of engagement with the forces that contributed to undermining democracy and of carrying forward the democratic struggle. That the PPP leader was committed to what in her final days appeared to be no less than a mission became evident to the people as she ended up giving up her life for her mission. The other factor that has also worked against PPP has been the incumbency factor. Its performance-deficit while in power has often lost it its traditional support. Performance deficit has also cost electoral support to other incumbent political parties.

Three, PML-N the second largest party went into the election with its leadership back in the country after six years but was still able to get its traditional vote. Its clean sweep in the Lahore and Rawalpindi Divisions illustrate this fact. Additional factors that helped PML-N's impressive showing in the elections is the anti-Musharraf, the Jamaat boycott, prompting many of its supporters to vote for PML-N, expressing anti-PML-Q sentiment. Nawaz Sharif's unambiguous commitment to the lawyers’ demand of the restoration of the pre-November 3 judiciary and his opposition to General Musharraf won him the votes of the politically more conscious voter who began relating to the issues of rule of law, independent judiciary and constitutional democracy that the 2007 movement threw up. PML-N also benefited from the advantage of an intact leadership. Unlike PPP which lost its leader the Sharif brothers, despite having had their papers rejected, provide the party leadership.

Four, the ANP has managed a historic comeback in the NWFP and national politics. It not only retrieved its old front-runner position in NWFP but has improved upon it. Five, the religious parties have been pushed back to their seventies electoral support, that is, before the establishment had begun supporting them. Six, the PML-Q support has drastically whittled down and many of its winners may even walk over to the PML-N camp. Of the national assembly elections and the four provincial elections, the PML-Q won is Balochistan. Seven, in Baluchistan, all the regional parties opted to boycott and so there is no representation of these parties in the national or provincial assemblies.

Eight, the vote against the establishment manipulated politics is likely to further wizen the military against dabbling in the arena of politics which is not their constitutional domain. Nine, while remaining engaged in dialogue with political forces on all sides the ISI seemed to have finally stayed away from directly manipulating the voting day process. Ten, the government did take steps to remove some of the glitches to reduce possibility of rigging.

Eleven, the APDM's decision to boycott was a wrong decision as many had argued even when the question was being debated. Boycott denied the opposition parties additional support they could have gained from APDM supporters. Also, it prevented the regional parties from participating in the electoral process and compounding the problem of alienation from the centre.

Pakistan's politics has come full circle. The election results are reminiscent of the 1970 election when genuine political forces won the day. Pakistan's media and the lawyer community deserve a pat on the back for raising the political awareness in the country and for exposing the reality of those who have been in power. Given that only a coalition government will be the way forward the ball is in the court of the politicians. It’s time for them to deliver on their tall electioneering promises of working together to promote the interest of the people and of the country.