Pak. voters apathetic to local bodies polls

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, DEC. 24. The first phase of elections to the local bodies is just a week away but there is hardly any evidence of enthusiasm.

The confusion since the departure of the former Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, on exile to Saudi Arabia over possibility of a civilian setup in place of the military government at the national level seems to have contributed a great deal in pushing the elections to the background.

Besides it is a partyless election with a strict `code of ethics' for the candidates enforced by the Election Commission. The candidates barely get 10 days to canvass support among the voters.

In the name of `code of ethics' the Election Commission has barred the candidates from holding public meetings, leading rallies, waving flags or even displaying banners. The code is ostensibly meant to check the political parties from entering into the fray.

As a result the elections being held under the command of the military government, in various phases beginning December 31, face the danger of being reduced to a farce. The military government sees the election to the local bodies as a precursor to the general election at the provincial and national level before October 2002 as per the directive of the Supreme Court.

The lack of enthusiasm among the voters as well as candidates is evident from the figures of contestants released by the Election Commission. They suggest that the first phase of partyless election might go down as the `mostly-thinly contested' poll ever.

As per the EC figures only 42,466 candidates have filed their nomination papers for 20,117 seats of the 956 union councils. That is before the Commission had scrutinised the papers. The public is entitled to file objections against the candidature of any of the contestants in their council.

Though the Commission has not released the figures about the number of contestants who have remained in the fray after the last date of withdrawal, reports from a number of districts suggest that there are no nominations for several local bodies. As a result the Commission would be forced to hold byelections.

Reports in the Pakistani media suggest that more than 50 per cent of the candidates filed their nominations on the last day.The polls are being held under a convoluted and confusing programme known as `devolution scheme'. The scheme is supposed to usher in an era of genuine grassroots democracy with the power flowing from bottom to the top. But political parties believe that the scheme would only end up in creating a parallel power centre creating confusion and chaos.

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Section  : International
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