DEVOLUTION is expected to a get a fresh impetus with the provinces emerging as the pivot of electoral politics.

PTI’s chief Imran Khan, who fought the elections on building a new Pakistan, is now promising to showcase Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a model province where his party will lead a coalition-government. The PML-N in Punjab and PPP in Sindh can ill-afford to ignore this challenge.

In the next five years, one may witness competition among the mainstream parties to rededicate themselves to socio-economic uplift of their primary constituencies in order to consolidate their vote banks. PPP’s electoral defeat would also serve to many as an eye-opener. And much of the nation- building activities lie in the provinces.

Whatever the merit of PTI’s pledge, given the daunting challenges in KP, it is likely that the PTI-led coalition government may perform better than the Awami National Party. This may also lead to stepping up of efforts of the mainstream parties to do away with teething troubles in the implementation of the 18th Amendment to improve economic performance in the provinces. The current administrative, legislative and fiscal devolution will be politically reinforced.

While the mainstream parties may focus on their respective ‘economic units’ on the basis of autonomy their provinces enjoy, they would be required to cooperate for developing the national markets through rapid development of federal-funded physical infrastructure.

As the PML-N’s majority in the National Assembly will be circumscribed by self-assertion of sub-nationalities struggling to improve socio-economic conditions of their people, mutual consultations and understanding on matters of common interests among leading political players would become unavoidable.

In its manifesto, the PML-N is committed to pursue a policy of reconciliation. Nawaz Sharif has conceded the PTI’s right to form government in Khyber Pakhtunkwha and is trying to get the moderate nationalists in Sindh and Balochistan into the political mainstream. The chief minister of Balochistan will be appointed by him after consultation with coalition partners. All this indicates a direction towards strengthening of democratic federalism.

With all the three leading parliamentary parties more comfortable in their provincial constituencies, the chances of restoration of grass-root representative democracy have also improved. The outcome of local bodies polls may not be much different from the trends set in the national polls. They are likely to help the ruling parties consolidate their position at the grass-roots.

Chances are that the future provincial and the district governments will work in greater harmony. The missing third-tier representative district government is needed to bring the state near the people and speed up socio-economic progress at the district level.

With mounting fiscal deficits at the federal level, it would also be appropriate to empower district governments to levy local taxes and raise revenues for meeting their development spending. They have to be made accountable to taxpayers and common citizens rather than the provincial administration. As the activities of the district would be more visible to the voters and taxpayers, one may witness much better tax compliance as happened in case of the provinces collecting sales tax on services.

Apparently, centralisation of economic decision-making is on the retreat but the PML-N’s federal government will enjoy much greater freedom in dealing with foreign countries and lenders in its pursuit of revival of the economy than its immediate predecessors did. Going forward, given the fragile external sector, economic diplomacy may gradually acquire more weight in the conduct of foreign affairs, particularly in dealings with India. The army and the civilian leadership may come to share common perceptions.

Both the 2008 and 2013 electoral mandates reflect pluralism in which independent political identities have to share power and cooperate with each other to resolve problems at federal, provincial and district levels.