Sixty-four countries go to the polls this year, representing 49 percent of the world population. The big boys — America, Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), Germany and Russia — are all gearing up. It is also election year for Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Syria, South Africa, Taiwan, and both North and South Korea. Analysts call it not just an election year but the election year.

Democracy, developed to break the power of noble families, is one of the most tenacious concepts to come out of ancient Greece. The earliest elections, conducted around 500 BC, were not done to vote in people but to instead decide who should be exiled for 10 years. Voters wrote their choice on broken pieces of pots, ostraka, from which the word ostracise comes.

While it evolved into a system of selection rather than rejection, voting has had a chequered history. Roman elections could be violent, with gangs intimidating voters and even buying votes.

Ballot papers made their appearance in Rome in 139 BC. Palm leaves were used in 10th century India to select village committee members. Almost a thousand years later, voting by ballot arrived in England and then America, as democracy replaced kingship.

The concept and ritual of elections is all about creating visual perceptions

Today, the secret ballot paper is an essential element of the elections. Ballot papers evolved from highly ornamental sheets into the plain formats of today. While ballot papers have an image of the candidate or a party logo in most countries, a unique system appeared in India — the use of everyday symbols that voters would be familiar with.

Sir Bernard Bourdillon, the colonial secretary of Ceylon from 1929-1932, created the ‘symbol’ system for illiterate Ceylonese to mark the ballot paper. Indian Civil Service officer Sukumar Sen adopted this system for India’s first general elections in 1951. The symbols were hand drawn by draftsman MS Sethi. They were carefully selected to be neutral, with no religious or cultural imagery, so as not to influence the voter.

Pakistan’s first general election in 1970 followed a similar format for the ballot paper. Today, election symbols in Pakistan include tractors, trucks, table fans, kettles, candles, combs, ink pots, hockey sticks, cricket bats, footballs, arrows, kites, loudspeakers, ladders, rickshaws, telephones, Photostat machines and pressure cookers. It’s a joyous list of eccentric symbols that go into the hundreds in Pakistan and the thousands in India.

Elections soon became a corporate event, funded by big money even funding opposing sides, as the businessman Mukesh Ambani did for both Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi, to ensure influence regardless of who won. On a global scale, elections of far away nations are seen to be important for maintaining whatever current world order is envisioned.

In the spirit of corporate campaigns, elections are a visual spectacle. Handmade billboards of candidates painted by the cinema painters of Royal Park Lahore have given way to more affordable and reproducible computer generated Panaflex. Street light poles, vehicles and even clothes are appropriated for party branding.

As younger voters dominate, social media has created a space for memes mocking opponents, playing party songs and videos promoting candidates. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat allow candidates with limited funds, or those who face other restrictions, to reach a large number of voters and allows voters to generate their own visual support.

Pakistan has also seen some AI-generated speeches. After the recent ban on the bat, apps have appeared to let voters know of substitute symbols rather than the candidate’s name.

The candidates themselves have to dress the part. Dressed simply to be one with voters, formally to appear powerful, or dressed to blend with regional cultures. Some female candidates may wear designer clothing and make-up, use botox or even have plastic surgery done to enhance their appeal. It is said that after women got the vote in the USA in 1920, the male candidates had to sport an ‘eligible bachelor’ appeal — ‘no beards or moustaches, and no potbellies.’

Sophisticated softwares enhance live election results, presented by glamourous anchors. Television election coverage has come a long way from Quraishpur’s measured announcements on PTV.

While Pakistanis doubt there will be free and fair elections, or even if these will be held on the date announced, campaign battles have begun, with some hoping to influence voters with their visual presence, some with their forced absence.

Durriya Kazi is a Karachi-based artist. She may be reached at durriyakazi1918@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, February 28th, 2024