A 'free and fair election' will not really resolve anything

We have newspaper editorials and op-ed columnists calling for “free and fair elections”. And this is also Imran Khan’s ‘mantra’.

Of course, other than this, he also keeps switching his statements and stance on a daily basis. Sometimes he accuses the Army Chief of being the cause of his party’s recent misfortunes, and sometimes he accuses the PDM government of being behind it and of pitting his party against the army.

First of all, those making the demand for “free and fair elections” most vociferously still have not acknowledged the fact that when their own party came to power in the last election in 2018, the elections were anything but “free and fair”.

Furthermore, the PTI chairman and former PM Imran Khan doesn’t want to talk to any other political party because “they are all corrupt” and out to get him.

Mind you, in the 2018 election, the PTI got around 32% of the popular vote and with voter turnout at 51%, this meant that around 16.5% of eligible voters actually voted for the party - that’s around 1 in 6 voters.

Of course, the PML-N and PPP had a lower share but their combined share is greater than that of the PTI. But that is not the point either. The point is that with this much of the popular vote, how can the PTI claim to speak for all of Pakistan. As the rallies by the PDM’s component parties following the May 9 violence, showed, all the major political parties can get tens of thousands of people on the streets.

The PTI will have to acknowledge the damage done by its violent May 9 protests and realise and accept that there has to be accountability for that and consequences for such actions.

Furthermore, when Imran Khan demands “free and fair elections” he basically is saying that “I need to come to power as PM” and if he does, he will continue where he left off — alienating just about every political group in the country as well as all of Pakistan’s allies and friends. He will also seek revenge for what has been done to him and his party since he was ousted from power and those who know him well know that this is all likely to happen.

So first there have to be consequences for what happened on May 9 followed by a realisation that a ‘free and fair election’ actually means that if you don’t come out the winner then you accept the results and even if you come out at the largest party (very unlikely given the current situation) you need to work with all other parties in Parliament.

Neither of that seems to be the case with Imran Khan and that is why accepting his demand for “free and fair elections” will not resolve much, especially in terms of moving the country forward towards stability.