Fair and Free Election Possible?

Churchill said that democracy might have been the worst form of government but without an alternate. The establishment of democracy in a country owes to fair elections, the root cause of good representation. Democracy is ultimate result of a continuous process with fair mode of elections as the major tool with plural participation.

Without fair elections the countries, the developed world couldn’t possibly achieve the ideal democracy they have right now. In those countries, democracy is the secret, which have enabled them to achieve enhanced national status and solid image in world politics. We have myriad number of democratic examples in front of us. One of the good example is just in our neighours but unfortunately we are yet to achieve any true kind of democracy in Pakistan.

Once again, we are likely to go towards elections in near future. We are about to go to elections just after 6 or 7 months, if everything remains ok with the present regime. But with elections looming large, the major question pubic is asking and also which is on the agenda of national parties is that is there any way these elections could be made free and fair?

Free and fair elections are possible in Pakistan, even under the army rule. But that would require a major effort on the part of everyone, especially government has to sacrifice a lot. Present regime draws its power from the crown party of PML-Q, and government has to show trust on people and not on crown party to hold the free and fair elections.

Holding of free and fair elections requires many complex pre-requisites which are very hard to achieve in our country given the very poor rate and quality of literacy. There is no proper way of representation at the grass root leve and “Baradari” system is one of the major obstacle too. But it is not impossible and very much possible provided the situation is addressed.

The mode of fair elections in a situation like Pakistan involves many steps to be taken. First of all there should be a neutral and independent elections commission under the auspices of judiciary. Other steps include a well-designed caretaker system where the stakeholders in elections are neither directly or indirectly in power lest they are or against the candidates. There should be a viable authentic identification mechanism for the voters. The campaign of parties should be followed according to a code of conduct. No rogue elements should be allowed in politics from top to bottom.

But this all is possible if the government is willing to follow the measures. The holding of fair elections is not that difficult to accomplish provided the rulers are committed to the promotion of a democratic order.