The high drama surrounding the election of new prime minister notwithstanding, what matters most is that the democratic process worked smoothly. Ruling party candidate Raja Pervez Ashraf easily sailed to victory, the credit for which goes to PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for his skilful handling of the coalition partners. A minor upset though was caused by the Anti-Narcotics Force, headed by a serving soldier, when it issued non-bailable warrants - just a day before the election - for the arrest of the party's first choice for the position, Makhdoom Shahabuddin, for his alleged involvement in the ephedrine scam, forcing him to step aside. That must have come as a great personal disappointment to the Makhdoom; the incident also encouraged many to claim that this was some sort of a scheme to undermine the democratic system. In the event, an alternative candidate became prime minister without let or hindrance. An important highlight of the day was the Opposition's enthusiastic participation in the election. It put up its own candidate Sardar Mehtab Khan Abbasi, to make the point, it said, that Raja Ashraf was not a consensus candidate. In line with a tradition in established democracies, nonetheless, after the announcement of the result Raja walked to the opposition benches to shake hands with the runner-up - a much welcome gesture in a country with a history of unsavoury government-Opposition confrontations, although the PML-N's candidate equated newly-elected prime minister's victory with "darkness" in his speech later. The PML-N chief, Nawaz Sharif, however, launched a clear and unambiguous attack on Raja Ashraf, criticising the PPP's choice for prime minister due to his alleged involvement, during his stint as Water and Power Minister, in rental power stations corruption scandal. To be fair to Raja Ashraf, he is not the first and last politician to be accused of involvement in a corruption scandal. The principle of 'innocent until proven guilty' should apply to him as well. A myriad of problems awaits the new prime minister's attention. His policy on major foreign as well as domestic issues is unlikely to be any different from his predecessor's. Yet if all goes well he will have about nine months to make his mark. First and foremost, he needs to focus on resolving the severe energy crisis that has been triggering power riots in various parts of Punjab, for which he gets blamed as former Water and Power Minister. He must be aware of the fact that the Punjab government has sought to dispel what it says the impression that the 18th Amendment authorised the provinces to independently execute power-generating projects by arguing that the amendment did not confer any additional powers on provinces vis-à-vis power generation. Prime Minister Raja Ashraf's key challenge though would be to deal with the Supreme Court orders regarding implementation of its NRO verdict. With tact, he can pass time by responding to the court directives through legal response rather than making unnecessary confrontational statements. In the meanwhile, the government must remain focused on ensuring that an independent Election Commission becomes fully functional sooner rather than later; and as per a new constitutional provision, elections are held on time under a caretaker set-up. All involved, inside and outside the government, must not lose sight of the common objective of protecting and strengthening the democratic system.
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