THE new normal in politics, if Imran Khan and the PTI were to have their way, would be the old normal of politics: daggers drawn, confusion, chaos, mid-term elections and all the unwelcome and unhealthy drama that such events inevitably bring. The transition to democracy, unsteady at times but continuing in the right direction, is no longer adequate for Imran Khan. The PTI chief has finally taken his politics of agitation to its logical conclusion: the present government must go, mid-term elections must be held and, presumably, the PTI must be allowed to win an election, a victory that Imran Khan still appears to believe was stolen from him in May 2013 by the PML-N. First, to the latest demand of a complete so-called audit of last year’s elections: it is excessive, difficult to agree with and should not be countenanced unless the PTI can convince a superior court of both the necessity and legality of such a move. To compare Pakistan’s electoral process to the one in Afghanistan, as Mr Khan has done, is risible and unworthy of serious debate. While last year’s elections were clearly not as free and fair as the best democratic norms demand, they were also widely, if not universally, seen as credible and acceptable.

The second issue at stake here is the intersection of politics and elections. For much of this country’s political history, politicians have been discredited and elections manipulated — but always by anti-democratic forces and their political collaborators. Now, a major political party inside the country and specifically its leader, who is publicly committed to electoral democracy, is himself agitating against an elected government to the point of attempting to destabilise the system itself. Up till the call for verification of results in four National Assembly constituencies in Punjab, the PTI’s demand was reasonable and legitimate. Anomalies discovered in particular constituencies there could have acted as the catalyst for further electoral reforms across the system. As ever, the PML-N had a chance to head off a growing crisis by acting quickly and foreseeing the direction of future, connected events — but then bungled it by resolutely blocking any meaningful investigation into the details of how elections were won and lost in four constituencies.

Yet, now it is Mr Khan himself who has showed his hand and given credence to the speculation that his motive in focusing on possible electoral irregularities is not to strengthen the system and democratic institutions but to topple a government and have himself installed as prime minister somehow. Unhappily, even the PPP appears to be egging Mr Khan on in his dangerous game — though perhaps former president Asif Zardari has only seen fit to do so because the PTI is not challenging the results in Sindh. Electoral reforms are a good idea; forcing new elections a terrible one.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2014