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Commonwealth Observer Group releases final report on Pakistan 2024 General Elections
Conclusion
A number of critical decisions made by key institutions throughout the election process had significant impacts on the level playing field for the holding of democratic elections. Perhaps most critical were the decision of the ECP and the Supreme Court in relation to the bat symbol and the Supreme Court’s reversal of the lifetime ban. Other significant institutional decisions included arrests of opposition members, the decision to shut down the cellular network on election day and decisions by media regulators regarding the prohibition of certain broadcasted content. When looked at in isolation, some – though not all – of the arguments advanced by these institutions in support of their actions appear justifiable and with a solid legal basis. Yet, when viewed together, they present a picture of an electoral environment in which decisions by key institutions consistently limited the ability of one particular party to contest the elections. Ultimately, these decisions impinged on the credibility, transparency and inclusiveness of the electoral process.
The Group returns to an observation made earlier: that the fraught political environment leading into the elections represented a continuation of the tensions that have characterised Pakistani politics since its return to multi-party democracy. Pakistan’s electoral politics appear to be characterised by a zero-sum, winner-takes-all approach, in which parties are incentivised to take a maximalist approach to achieving and maintaining power, even at the expense of the political rights of others. This is a pattern that has played out over successive electoral cycles, with different parties at the helm. The conditions that produce these incentives stem from a conception of the state, by the security apparatus, that prioritises security above the flourishing of democratic institutions. The Group regards as fallacious the notion that security must come at the expense of democracy.
The potential of Pakistan’s democracy is enormous. Pakistan has a vibrant and diverse media; women and the youth are more engaged than ever; and Pakistan’s CSOs play a critical role in the democratic life of the country, continually pushing for reform and improvement. Yet, ultimately, the improvement of electoral processes will fundamentally depend on the broader political conditions in which elections are held, and on the ability of political parties, the ECP and the judiciary to be able to act free from outside pressures, and with a sense of common national purpose. For democracy to flourish in Pakistan, there must be a much clearer demarcation between military and civilian authority in line with the country’s Constitution and international law. To achieve this, political parties must break the cycle of zero-sum retributive politics and foster greater levels of trust and tolerance in each other. Political parties and all organs of the state, including the military, must establish new rules of engagement that place the sanctity of independent democratic institutions and processes out of the bounds of political manoeuvrings.
