Is EVM an answer to election rigging?

In the twenty-first century, elections will be rigged with strategies both old and new because autocrats have learnt a simple but sad truth; it is easier to stay in power by rigging elections than by not holding them at all. Unless we learn how to identify these strategies and address them, elections quality will continue to decline, co-authors Nic Cheeseman and Brian Klaas said in a well-researched book “How to Rig an Election.”

They concluded by saying:”we know how to rig an election and also know how to make it more difficult. If we care about democracy, we must act now. There is no time to waste.” Interestingly, in the elections of free, not free and fairly free categories, they have put India in a free category and Pakistan in a fairly free category. Not bad as there are also countries which were put in “not free” elections index.

I am of the firm opinion that elections in Pakistan by and large are not massively rigged but smartly managed and engineered and one could find ample examples from 1956 to 2018. It’s not the failure of the system but of those who always wanted to see “positive results”, as they considered it as free and fair.

Electoral reforms are long overdue and one could consider the use of Electronic Vote Machine (EVM) as a way forward. But, can such a technology be an answer to how elections are managed in this country. The maximum it could do is to check and prevent any foul play in the polling and counting process, provided if it is used with all fairness and expertise. But, what if elections are managed and controlled prior and after the polls. Hope government and opposition will reach some consensus.

For instance, why do we always see some high profile possible retirement or extension prior to elections as significant, something otherwise nothing to do with polls. Why do some big political parties often complain about break-ups in their rank and file as 'manipulated' prior and after the elections.

The hallmark of most of these elections is that we know in advance who will win and who will form the government. That’s not how democracy works because the “will of the people” is often stolen much before the opening of ballot boxes.

Secondly, even if the elections are fair as people generally say about provincial assembly elections in 1956 in the then East Pakistan or 1970 general elections, the mandate was not accepted and powers not handed over to the elected representatives.

While the three military dictators, Field Marshal Ayub Khan, General Ziaul Haq and General Pervez Musharraf, introduced their own “system” in the name of restoring democracy in a bid to bring legitimacy to their own illegal and unconstitutional rules like Basic Democracy, non-party based democracy as adopted by Ayub Khan and Gen Zia.

In 2002, though Musharraf held general elections after ensuring the ouster of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto. He then divided two popular parties, PPP and PML (N), which gave birth to PPP (Patriot) and PML (Q).

This is how the system runs in Pakistan. Unfortunate part of our political history had also been the autocratic civilian set-ups and failure of political parties to democratise themselves. As such, they become hand-in-gloves at times with those who engineered the polls. In 2008, elections were held in peculiar circumstances about a month after the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Since they were held in the backdrop of “Charter of Democracy” signed by PPP and PML (N) and the third party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) along with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) had much earlier decided not to participate in any polls under Musharraf, its results by and large were accepted by those who took part.

In 2013, both PTI and PPP questioned the elections credibility. While the latter accused manipulation through Returning Officers (ROs), the PTI leader Imran Khan demanded opening of four constituencies and refusal from PML (N) government which secured a majority turned the demand into a movement which continued as dharna for 126 days, largest in our political history. Later, a judicial commission findings pointed several irregularities in the electoral system but rejected the plea of large-scale rigging.

Prior to the elections in 2018, two important developments created quite a controversy. First, they were held in the backdrop of ”Panama leak” in 2016 in which the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s son’s name in offshore companies along with some top world leaders as well as over 450 Pakistanis created a stir in the country.

All this led to the disqualification of three times Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and secondly, months before polls almost entire PML (N) government in Balochistan disappeared and a new party Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) emerged. Many parties, including the present allies of PTI, the MQM (Pakistan), raised serious questions about how results were allegedly stolen.

Can any technology, no matter how advanced and effective it may be, could answer these questions or stop such “unseen” pressure in future? Perhaps not irrespective of the final outcome of the ongoing tussle between PTI and Election Commission of Pakistan or introducing EVM for the next polls.

Unless outside interference is stopped and the process of forming or breaking parties and groups continues, true democracy may remain a dream. Good to see the formation of a belated parliamentary committee on electoral reforms. Will they also address things that blocked the very democratic system? As a beginning, why not start the EVM system from elections in the political parties. Oops…. They nominate and don’t elect their party leaders and officer-bearers.

The writer is a columnist and analyst of Geo, The News and Jang

Twitter:@MazharAbbasGEO