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NDI Report, a Clean Bill of Health

Addressing a Press Conference in the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi yesterday, the leader of the NDI delegation, which had come to Pakistan to observe the election process in Pakistan, gave it a general clean bill of health, to the visible disappointment of a large number of foreign correspondents gathered there. Reading a prepared statement, the former Foreign Minister of Turkey, backed up by his full delegation standing behind him, listed certain areas of concern but emphatically denied the allegations of rigging as alleged by the PDA. The NDI team did comment in muted tones about the powers of incumbency, particularly the bias of Pakistan TV, but when asked to compare this in consistency with other third world and Muslim countries, had only the pious hope to offer that democratic practices would improve there also.

What started as a pro-Bhutto exercise, at least in the minds of the people of Pakistan, has ended in a pro-Pakistan scenario. In the face of repeated charges by Ms Benazir about rigging by the Caretaker Government using shenanigans of different nature, the whole world was looking with great interest to the report of the NDI delegation. That they have given a favourable, though qualified, report reinforces the democratic process in Pakistan and allows it to proceed without being bogged down by wild and frivolous allegations bringing our whole electoral process into disrepute. The most pathetic incident happened off the record when a foreign journalist asked Ken Wollack, one of the leading members of the NDI team, whether “this report would go down well with Ms Bhutto’s Democrat friends in US Congress” particularly because the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs was founded by (and mainly made up of) members of the Democratic Party. Mr Wollack replied that while Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, a leading US liberal Democrat, may be the Chairman, the delegation was made up of both Democrats and Republicans and that they were there as neutral observers and their observations were meant to be truthful and not meant to please anybody in particular, Republicans or Democrats. The suggestion here is that Ms Benazir’s friends in the US Congress, who have been very concerned at the reports of ballot rigging as reported by Ms Benazir herself, may find the variance with the NDI report disturbing.

The NDI team did make some telling points, given the absence of better electronic facilities some of these need to be studied by the Election Commission. How any Election Commission in any third world country is going to neutralize the powers of incumbency is beyond us but instances of armed attacks on polling stations and the procedure for communicating the tallies progressively certainly need to be tightened for the sake of democracy in Pakistan. While the NDI team gave a preliminary reading of the situation and a more detailed report will follow, we must take note of their findings to improve fair-play in the election process, anything which improves the democratic process is to be welcomed. One does not doubt for an instance that there may have been excesses but this must be few and far between, maybe even, as the PDA charges, in critical constituencies but the charges of widespread electoral fraud does not hold in the face of the complete sweep, it is too sweeping a mandate to question. Bringing the election process into disrepute in front of the whole world demeans the leadership of the PDA, maturity and nationalism must hold over peevish allegations.

The NDI delegation observed three aspects of the election process (1) the election campaign (2) the balloting process and (3) the tabulation of results. The leader of the delegation was candid in expressing that in a 40-member team there were differences of opinion but that the majority opinion prevailed and was expressed in the Preliminary Statement released to the media. One of their observations related to the women vote and it was heartening to read that they saw a large number of women coming to vote despite religious, cultural and social realities showing that they had an active desire to participate. They did note that the administrative procedures make it difficult for polling agents to verify the eligibility of women to vote, allowing for abuse and manipulation of the results. It would be interesting to learn what methods they would apply, in the presence of ID Cards (even without photographs) to curb electoral fraud.

In sum total, thank God that the NDI delegation was in Pakistan to do what it did, in effect they became an impartial Arbitrator. God knows what other allegations would have been aired if they had not been present. Given the mood of the large number of foreign correspondents who were eagerly looking forward to dire tales of skullduggery by “the powers that be”, an open hunting season on Pakistan would have been declared in the US Congress if there was “any smoking gun”. For once, the Government of Pakistan acted in an unusual and markedly non-bureaucratic manner by allowing the NDI delegation free run of the place, the results are that they have come up trumps despite themselves. While exhorting the Caretaker Government to lean over backward to ensure that a fair election takes place today in the Provinces, one must congratulate them for having been spared being smeared the world over for election fraud. On the other hand, if they had been caught at fraud, they would also have been labelled as incompetent.

Ms Benazir remains a dominant political force, despite her defeat, the reaction of the sympathetic international media makes her action and rhetoric that much more important for Pakistan. Despite Asif Zardari and a number of other aberrations, she remains a national asset. On her is thrust great national responsibility, she must not bring Pakistan into disrepute. She must be sure of her facts and as once stated by herself on the floor of the National Assembly, take all acts of misdemeanour against her and the PDA to the Election Commission, which is by itself a Court of Law. The Election Commission must take into account genuine complaints and process them with speed, punishing those who have acted beyond the pale of election laws, even the violation of any other laws of the country if it is connected to the election process. Ms Benazir must act as the mature leader she is, the undisputed head of what probably exists as the single largest party in Pakistan in spite of the defeat of her Alliance at the hands of another Alliance. If she handles herself with grace now we will have taken a giant step to institutionalise democracy in Pakistan. However, if she acts as a sore loser, which in the face of the NDI delegation’s report (and visit to Pakistan at the instance of her admirers in the US Congress) she will be, then we are in for turmoil in Pakistan. Has she got the “Right Stuff” in her, that which rises above adversity, if only for the sake of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan? At the moment, election fever is at its height, when the dust settles down, we will know whether her immediate reaction was simply an election play for the Provincial elections today or she really meant it. As it is, after the Preliminary Statement of the NDI delegation, it is now her credibility against theirs. One hopes she will rise above herself for the sake of Pakistan.

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