In Pakistan, the moment someone mentions the word ‘rigging’, the first thing that comes to mind is the image of suspicious looking people stuffing ballot boxes with bogus votes. It’s not that this does not happen, but not on the scale most people think it does. It is only possible in certain polling stations. It could change the course of certain particular contests, but not an entire election.
It would be a herculean task to stuff ballot boxes at multiple polling stations on election day. But this still remains the most popular perception of a ‘rigged’ election. Nevertheless, from the 1980s onwards, most people began to speak more about ‘pre-poll rigging’ — or the manipulation of certain conditions to favour the electoral fortunes of a favoured party.
Take for instance the 1985 elections during the Ziaul Haq dictatorship. The parties that boycotted the polls accused the regime of pre-poll rigging. By this they largely meant the dictatorship disallowing parties to contest. This is why they are often referred to as ‘party-less elections.’ But there was no stated law stopping parties from backing independents.
In her book Daughter of the East, former PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto wrote that her decision to boycott the 1985 elections was a mistake. It was a mistake because her party left the field open for “Zia’s people” (especially in Punjab) to come in and establish vote-banks of their own.
No general elections had been held for eight years and people were looking to get MNAs and MPAs to resolve typical constituency issues. And even though the turnout was low in Sindh, it was over 50 percent in Punjab.
Accusations of ‘pre-poll rigging’ are not a new phenomenon and........