EDITORIAL: ECP’s (Election Commission of Pakistan’s) subtle reminder that recent amendments in election laws, according to interpretation by the ECP, no longer empower the president to fix the date for polls “in the present context” robs PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) of yet another push to get an election date out of the Commission and is likely to end in the courts for adjudication.
The president is reported to have asked the law division for its opinion on the issue but a categoric statement issued by the information minister, Murtaza Solangi, that the government will follow the view of the ECP leaves little doubt about what the opinion of the law division is like to be.
But since the Commission has begun individual meetings with all leading political parties, there’s still hope that a concrete roadmap will emerge after all.
It’s surprising, though, that ECP is up to speed on the latest legislation, especially where its own powers are enhanced, yet forgets that it is also part of its duty to announce a date for the election. Even in his letter to the president – in reply to the invitation to the presidency to “fix an appropriate date” – CEC (Chief Election Commissioner) Sikandar Sultan Raja explained how premature dissolution of the National Assembly made the election date solely its jurisdiction, but he didn’t exactly betray any intention of going down that road right now.
Now all eyes are on what comes out of the meetings with the parties. Surely, PTI will insist on the date more than anything else, with others also joining the chorus. That will leave it with few options but to make the announcement which, for some reason, it has been resisting so far.
There is only so long it can cite the delimitations of constituencies in the face of persistent inquiries, because it has already announced that the exercise will be completed by mid-December.
And since there is not much to do after it except prepare the electoral rolls in the light of the delimitation exercise and hold the election, ECP will at least have to explain the reasons for any further uncertainty that its continued silence might create.
If it can’t give the date even after talks with parties, then it must at least give its reason(s) for staying mum. Surely, it realises that its actions — lack of one specific action in this case — cast a long shadow, one that reaches far beyond the electoral landscape.
If, for example, markets and investors get fed up with all the uncertainty and decide to pack up, will ECP even understand that it was responsible for the needless confusion and/or be penalised for it? How does the electoral process move forward if ECP is the sole arbiter of the election schedule but chooses not to announce it even as the 90-day deadline is violated because of the sudden, last-minute announcement of the census and delimitations?
Though nobody can be sure about the rumours about mysterious forces delaying the election indefinitely that is doing the rounds for quite a while but with time these will gather momentum. This is very unfortunate because all it is going to take to end such chatter, and any further uncertainty it might create, is for ECP to give the date so political parties can go ahead with their campaigns and people can begin weighing who to vote for.
The country faces enough problems as it is — from political uncertainty to economic collapse to a very potent security threat.
And the best way to tackle them, especially financial problems that will require substantial foreign aid, is to have a duly elected representative government that will be able to negotiate on the people’s behalf. Voters, too, know the gravity of the situation and will seek to elect parties that they believe are capable of seeing beyond their own noses and fighting for the country.
Yet one crucial piece of the puzzle is still missing. ECP is advised to put it in its place immediately so the business of elections — always a controversial enterprise in this country — can proceed without any further roadblocks.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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