Pakistan goes to polls in just over a week. Yet there’s not much excitement as there generally is when elections are around the corner. We have not seen the usual colourful election campaigns by candidates or witnessed enough political rallies like we see on other occasions. Even the rallies that are being held seem a bit forced. This may be due to the uncertainty surrounding the polls: none knows whether they will be held on time or who will win and eventually form the next government. Analysts say that while it is almost certain that the elections will be held on February 8, the uncertainty around the formation of the next government is still there because no political party will be able to get enough seats to do it on its own. We will most likely see a coalition government, once again. Analysts also say that the lack of excitement around the polls may be because many voters believe that their votes will not matter in the end as powerful quarters have already decided that one political party is ‘unacceptable’ and will not be ‘allowed’ to form a government.

The Pakistan People’s Party chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, has been holding election rallies for quite some time now, while the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Nawaz Sharif, only started his campaign after mid-January. Imran Khan is incarcerated. His party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, is in a shambles: many of its leaders have abandoned the party and several of them are in hiding. One of the biggest blows to the PTI was the Supreme Court’s decision this month that it will not have its election symbol, the ‘bat’, because of the way PTI’s intra-party elections were held — or not held at all. The detailed SC verdict said, “Any of the political parties should not be deprived of the electoral symbol for any ordinary violation. However, not holding intra-party elections is the biggest violation of the constitution and law.” Many legal experts are of the opinion that this was a travesty of justice and the PTI should not have been robbed of its election symbol weeks before the general elections as it violates fundamental rights jurisprudence regarding political participation.

Due to the verdict, PTI’s candidates are now contesting the elections as ‘independents’ with different election symbols. While the PTI has used social media campaigns and technology to ensure that its voters know who its official candidate is in each constituency and what his/her election symbol is, analysts say that there is a large chunk of voters who are confused about ‘official’ party candidates and their symbols. This is because in many constituencies, several hopefuls have applied for party tickets. Had the ‘bat’ been allotted to the party, there would not have been any confusion for PTI voters. But many are now unaware of the official party candidates. Analysts say that this is the least of PTI’s worries: the biggest concern for the party is that since about 234 of its candidates are now contesting as independents, party discipline does not apply to them. Once they win, they can join other political parties after the elections despite winning due to the PTI vote. The defection clause under Article 63-A of the Constitution does not apply to independent candidates. Many parties are now looking at these independents as up for grabs. It is because of this reason that many political analysts believe that this is an election of the independents as they will be the ones who will play a pivotal role if no political party is able to get enough seats or a simple majority to form the next government.

Elections are a means of conflict-resolution in democratic countries. But in Pakistan, even the results of relatively free and fair elections have not been acceptable to some. Many hope that these elections, controversial as they may be, will lead to some stability. They argue that Parliament as a forum should be used to heal the country once the elections are over. All political parties need to sit together and chart a way forward for Pakistan so that the polarisation that we are witnessing today ends for good.

Mehmal Sarfraz is a journalist based in Lahore; mehmal.s@gmail.com