Being well into my nineties, I have witnessed all the elections held in Pakistan since independence. Never have I witnessed an election where the defeated party or individual would concede in a graceful manner. In a country like Pakistan where literacy levels are low, resources are limited, and personal ethical values are far from perfect, irregularities are guaranteed to happen. Because everyone does it, nobody concedes when they lose.
I recall, decades ago, that I travelled to my village to cast my vote, but to my surprise, the presiding officer at that polling station told me that my vote had already been cast. I was not alone; such incidents are quite common and often lead to mudding the transparency of the electoral process. Through time we as a nation become cynical of the electoral process and are unwilling to accept defeat in the process. It has now become our national character to reject defeat and cry foul play if we don’t win. This has even crept into our attitude toward defeat in other domains such as sports.
For example, if we win a cricket match it is celebrated with great jubilation. However, if God forbid, we lose, it is dubbed as some kind of foul play ranging from a grand conspiracy against Pakistan to players selling themselves for money. Therefore, I am afraid the EVMs that our government is trying to push for so vehemently would make any difference in improving the trust of people on the electoral. Given that all the opposition parties have rejected the idea and that such machines have had their problems around the world, it might further erode whatever trust people have in the elections.
The political leadership of the country must first change their attitudes and set examples of conceding defeat with grace. Once people see that win and loss are a logical outcome of the process and their leaders show dignity in wake of loss, they would regain trust in the system. As long as our leaders keep celebrating their wins and blaming the loss on rigging, people are not going to trust whatever method of elections is used.
RAJA SHAFAATULLAH
Islamabad
