Finally, Pakistan is entering the election mode but political parties are still unable to mobilise voters in support of their respective programmes. As many as 28,626 nomination papers have been filed by candidates for national and provincial assembly seats for the February 2024 general elections as compared to 21,426 in 2018 and 27,991 in 2013. The momentum is only picking up slowly with mixed feelings about how elections will be held and to what extent candidates perceived as ‘non-conformists’ will have freedom to carry out their campaign.
After months of uncertainty, election schedule was announced by the ECP. However, PTI complains about the absence of level-playing field as well as bias in the scrutiny process, as nomination papers of a majority of its candidates have been rejected. What is more alarming is the myopic mindset of political parties and their leaders. Pakistan is facing critical issues such as economic crisis, political instability, bad governance, unemployment, inflation, surge in poverty and violence. No political party, except Jamaat-i-Islami, has come up with a clear manifesto on how to address the predicament of the 240 million people of Pakistan. Lack of clarity, vision, commitment, planning and leadership qualities further compound the political quandary facing the country.
Why is the myopic mindset of our leadership a major impairment to reform politics and use power for improving the quality of life of people? Should the February 2024 elections be called a........