Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan. —Mobeen Ansari/Herald photo

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf contested its first elections in 1997, almost a year after its formation, but could win no seat. These elections were boycotted by the Jamaat-i-Islami, which stated that the elections would be useless in the presence of ‘corrupt’ political parties; and demanded accountability (ehtesab) before the elections.

The Jamaat was granted its wish two years later when General Musharraf took over and forced Nawaz and Benazir into exile. The Jamaat allied with the JUI-F and other religious parties to form the MMA that had a dream run in the general elections of 2002.

PTI too contested in 2002 but only its leader Imran Khan managed to win one seat from Mianwali and from that too, he resigned half way through the parliament’s tenure. Khan wrote in an article later in 2008, “For two and a half years, I supported Musharraf and believed his promises to bring genuine democracy to Pakistan. I've learned my lesson about Musharraf.”

The boycotting of elections again became a central issue before the general elections in 2008.

General Musharraf had imposed emergency in the country, weeks before the elections and dismissed the entire group of higher judges, lead by then Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who had refused to follow his dictates. The PPP decided not to boycott the elections and days later, Nawaz, who had just returned from almost a decade-long exile decided to contest too.

The Jamaat and PTI, however, remained adamant and boycotted the elections together.

Editorial: PTI’s unclear goals

Imran wrote in the same article justifying his decision to boycott the elections, “If the judges are not reinstated, how can there be free and fair elections? Who decides what is free and fair? Musharraf?”

The process however, proved Imran wrong.

The elections were held and Musharraf had to resign under threat of impeachment by the parliament. The elected government completed its tenure and the judges were also reinstated, with the next elections held under the same judges. Imran now says that these elections too were not free and fair.

No one can question a party’s right to challenge election results.

Pakistan’s electoral system is fraught with lacunae and deficiencies and nothing is more crucial than the need to comprehensively reform it. That’s what PTI demanded at the end of its May 11, 2014 rally in Islamabad. It made sense.

Barring its demand of thumb print verification in four constituencies, most of the rest are about ‘future elections’. The last item on PTI’s charter of demand is a formation of an electoral committee. A 33-member parliamentary committee has been formed and notified days ago. The Committee shall be meeting any time now.

The party, however, is now sounding out its intentions to send the government packing by resigning from the parliament, dissolving the Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and calling for mid-term polls.

Let us assume that Imran Khan, after a very impressive show on 14th August, is granted his wish. The ruling parties agree to dissolve assemblies and fresh elections are announced to be held on 14th November, 2014. What would happen next?

If the Constitution of Pakistan has to prevail, the caretaker governments will be put in place as a first step. The caretakers will be appointed by the outgoing government in consultation with the opposition. Under the 18th Amendment, the parliamentary opposition has almost an equal say in appointment of the caretakers.

But who is occupying the opposition slots in the five elected houses?

It’s the PPP in the National Assembly, the PTI in the Punjab Assembly, the PML-F in Sindh, at the moment, and the JUI-F is in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan assemblies.

PTI may not even have its way in Punjab, if three of its proposed names for caretaker chief minister are rejected by the ruling PML-N. According to the existing laws, in case the ruling and the opposition parties fail to agree, the decision about the caretakers will be made by the Election Commission.

More importantly, even if a PTI nominee is appointed the caretaker, it may not work out.

It trusted Musharraf but was betrayed. Then, it betted on ‘independent judiciary’ but that too backfired. It welcomed the appointment of ‘a man of unquestionable integrity’, namely Fakhurddin G Ibrahim, as Chief Election Commissioner but to no avail.

Who can it actually trust, except of course its own leader?

That will make a clear case for PTI to announce the boycott of mid-term elections.

The mid-term elections will be held under the same laws and rules as were for elections 2013. Caretakers cannot change this.

The bureaucracy that will supervise elections and the government employees who will perform polling station duties will be the same too. An almost one-million-strong team of ‘sadiq and amin’ polling personnel cannot possibly be identified and employed by the caretakers unless they decide to recruit the entire proposed million-man march to do the job.

How can one expect the same persons, performing the same duties under the same laws and conditions to produce free and fair elections, which they have earlier failed to do?

This scenario can provide PTI with plenty of opportunities to announce the boycott of elections.

More importantly, the hurriedly called mid-term elections cannot introduce electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the biometric system to ascertain the identity of voters at polling stations that are high on PTI’s list of demands.

India first introduced EVMs in one state on an experimental basis as early as 1984 but it was provided the requisite legal cover only in 1998. It was then put to use in all the provincial assembly elections before being used for the entire Lok Sabha (national assembly) elections in 2004 for the first time.

India has recently used the biometric system on a small experimental scale, the introduction of a new technology at the country level will take time; it is not just a wish away. The machines cannot take over and start operating at the end of the 14th August rally.

One thing, however, can happen on that date and that is the first meeting of the parliament’s Electoral Reform Committee mandated to review and change the country’s electoral system. Its decisions will go a long way in strengthening democracy in the country.

Will PTI attend it or boycott it?