Still many things are standing between the lackluster elections and a weary public to meet on February 18. To vote or not to vote is a riddle that has numbed the public psyche. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif dimmed the already flickering zeal of the public. The ensuing violence took away the steam from the electioneering that had never gotten on a popular note.
Blasts in public rallies, topped by the one in Charsadda on Saturday where 27 people were killed while attending a corner meeting of the ANP, are making the election a bloody drama. If this level of law and order remains, people are more likely to stay at home instead of risking their lives to cast vote. This atmosphere of terror and uncertainty, which otherwise should have been a festive time, cast aspersions at the rhetoric of President Pervaiz Musharraf that the elections will be fair, free and peaceful.
The president and his coterie of sycophants à la the Chaudhries, Durranis and others of their ilk wanted from the day one to have an election without public meetings. And their ‘wisdom’ was understandable: none of them are street-smart to pull a sizable crowd of supporters around them. While a charismatic Benazir Bhutto and a re-anointed Nawaz Sharif were capable to swell their ranks in rallies and public meetings.
Big public meetings in a free environment win over the floating votes, which decide the fate of the contesting parties. That’s why political parties vie for the floating votes who have no political conviction but still hold the key in deciding the fate of a candidate or for that matter a whole party. Public rallies also make positions of the political parties known before the votes are polled. Since no one wants to vote a losing candidate or party; in other words, everyone wants to be on the winning side, parties that hold the largest rallies win over the indecisive votes.
In short, free campaigning before the elections make projections for the media as well as the public to have a guess on who or which party is going to win here and lose somewhere else. This makes rigging a bit difficult, if not altogether impossible. Now that there is no electioneering with the prospects of a low turnout, stuffing the boxes or engineering results is no more a risky business. Since most of the people are likely to stay at home on the election day, because of fear or no interest, whatever results may the Election Commission announce would be no surprise for the people.
But the way things are moving and shaking, especially in the NWFP, yet another postponement of the election in imminent. No election is a win-win situation for the embattled president who has a lot more bizarre tricks up his sleeves than his antic of electing himself for the second time from the same, but truncated, electoral college. With a hand-picked judiciary it is not difficult for him to validate an election even if a dismally low turnout itself is a no-confidence in President Musharraf and his select government which is an extension of the PML (Q).
