ISLAMABAD: Overall Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the three major political parties scored less than 20 percent, which means that they talk about or have some solid ideas about only 20 percent of the key economic and policy issues of Pakistan.
In the wake of upcoming general elections, the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) has drawn a comparison of manifestos among three mainstream political parties – the PML-N, the PPP, and the PTI - that have been front-runners in formulating governments during the last three tenures.
The aim was to evaluate if the manifestoes have any substance and concrete plan or are these just comprise hollow promises and sweeping statements, without any homework for the future.
In this regard, PIDE has been proposing reforms in various dimensions for quite a long time. These targeted reform proposals are based on years of research and evidence and are in line with the global best practices. So, PIDE has picked 18 key issues/sectors that it thinks are fundamental. These included: local government, parliament, elections, cabinet, police, bureaucracy, budget making, debt management, PSDP, real estate, agriculture, energy, taxation, tariff, trade, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and internet. Each indicator has a maximum of 100 score.
According to PIDE, further dissecting the figure 20 percent tells us out of the country’s key issues, only 12 percent of these find space in the PML-N manifesto, seven percent in the PPP manifesto, and 1.5 percent in the PTI.
The PIDE further said, “This demonstrates that manifestoes don’t have any substance at large on key issues of the nation. This means that political parties don’t have any concrete blueprint to work on if they come into power. The lack of substance in manifestoes leads to a myopic approach to governance, ad-hocism and serving vested interests only, without any regard for doing something for the long-term development of the country. For instance, strengthening local government is merely a promise and scored as zero. In contrast, allowing the property tax regime to serve as the primary revenue generator for local government is a concrete point. Thus, this point had been given a 25 score.”
How did PIDE arrive at such a score? PIDE summarized its proposals in four points for each theme, having equal weightage for each point i.e. 25 percent, making it 100 percent for all four points. It then compared it with what each political party proposes against the same theme. If the manifestoes propose one of the points that PIDE proposes then the score will be 25/100 and if their proposals include all that PIDE proposes, then that manifesto will get full marks i.e. 100/100. It is pertinent to note that, manifestoes are being evaluated on actual reform intervention, not mere promises, slogans and sweeping statements.
The PIDE further described as “besides, the Institute, in another research product, has also compared if there is any convergence between what is mentioned in manifestoes and the digital narratives by the party leaders.” The stark disparity between pre-election promises and the reality of online discourse in the post-election landscape, as unveiled by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), reveals a critical disconnect. PIDE’s analysis reveals a concerning neglect of fundamental issues like economic disparities, infrastructure, unemployment, education, healthcare, governance, corruption, security, environment, and human rights on digital narratives by party leaders, which are pivotal for the country’s progress.
PIDE’s call for realigning political discourse with manifesto commitments echoes the urgency for leaders to prioritize substantive policy matters for Pakistan’s development and prosperity. Manifestoes shouldn’t remain as mere paper promises; they should guide the nation’s trajectory, providing a clear roadmap for governing parties and feasible policy alternatives for the opposition.
The institute stresses the need to shift conversations from personal grievances, familial legacies and political mudslinging to tangible policy matters, urging leaders to re-center discussions and leverage social media tools like Twitter for more focused, relevant, and policy-based communication, to address the perpetual challenges faced by Pakistan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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