Pakistan General Elections 2013
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Mani2020
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Cr.7
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Really !! He doesn't look like a person of 59 years oldhe is 59 years old... if this is young then i wonder whats your criteria
I mean in the politics around 40 is young compared to the majority of politics
fatman17
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Capital suggestion
Dr Farrukh Saleem
Sunday, August 05, 2012
It’s a jungle out there. Of the 84.4 million registered Pakistani voters some 60 million live in Pakistan’s rural areas – out there where there is no state. There is no state to protect their lives. There is no state to protect their property. There is no state to provide personal security. And, there is no state to provide any economic security. As a matter of fact, the state never benefits its citizens who live out in the jungle. In effect, the only thing that the state’s coercive apparatus, thana-kutchery, can do for these people in the jungle is harm them.
These 60 million seek protection of life, limb and property. These 60 million seek personal security. These 60 million seek economic security. And these 60 million seek protection from thana-kutchery. This is the demand side of Pakistan’s democracy (this is what voters demand). Corruption, morality, character of the candidate, the Supreme Court and drone attacks can come later – much later (that in essence is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).
Who will win the next elections? Answer: The ‘machine politician’ – someone who can put together a machine that provides voters what they demand; someone who can provide these 60 million out in the jungle what the state has failed to – the hope of physical and economic security. That’s supply and demand.
The term ‘machine politics’, I believe, was first coined by Dr Mughees Ahmed in his “Social system influences political system” in which the principal argument revolves around a ‘class system of machine politics’ that is based neither on national issues nor on morality. Machine politics is all about getting elected, capturing state resources and then the disbursement of patronage to complete the patron-client relationship between the voter and the elected.
The ultimate objective of the top-most machine politician, the prime minister, is to capture the largest pool of capital in the budget – the Rs873,000,000,000 PSDP (Public Sector Development Program). Of the Rs873 billion, Rs513 billion is doled out to the four chief ministers, while the remaining Rs360 billion is doled out to MNAs and senators.
This is how D Morgan writing for Fair Observer described Pakistan’s machine politics: “National and regional power brokers, usually in the form of the large political parties, award favours – cash, jobs and influence – to their supporters in return for votes. This means that most of the money that should be going into education, renewing decrepit infrastructure......and investing in electricity generation is actually wasted through patronage. While this allows the large parties to create the illusion of popular support in the short term, it beggars the country over the longer term. Supporters and functionaries of the PPP or the PML-N, the two largest parties, are able to amass personal fortunes...........for themselves and their relatives, while the country as a whole goes to hell in a handcart.”
A machine is an apparatus used “to perform a particular task”, while politics is all about “acquisition and application of power.” Our machine politicians have perfected the machine that collects votes for them so that they can acquire power. What is good for Pakistan or for Pakistanis has absolutely no place in any of this. We call the process ‘general elections’.
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com
Dr Farrukh Saleem
Sunday, August 05, 2012
It’s a jungle out there. Of the 84.4 million registered Pakistani voters some 60 million live in Pakistan’s rural areas – out there where there is no state. There is no state to protect their lives. There is no state to protect their property. There is no state to provide personal security. And, there is no state to provide any economic security. As a matter of fact, the state never benefits its citizens who live out in the jungle. In effect, the only thing that the state’s coercive apparatus, thana-kutchery, can do for these people in the jungle is harm them.
These 60 million seek protection of life, limb and property. These 60 million seek personal security. These 60 million seek economic security. And these 60 million seek protection from thana-kutchery. This is the demand side of Pakistan’s democracy (this is what voters demand). Corruption, morality, character of the candidate, the Supreme Court and drone attacks can come later – much later (that in essence is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).
Who will win the next elections? Answer: The ‘machine politician’ – someone who can put together a machine that provides voters what they demand; someone who can provide these 60 million out in the jungle what the state has failed to – the hope of physical and economic security. That’s supply and demand.
The term ‘machine politics’, I believe, was first coined by Dr Mughees Ahmed in his “Social system influences political system” in which the principal argument revolves around a ‘class system of machine politics’ that is based neither on national issues nor on morality. Machine politics is all about getting elected, capturing state resources and then the disbursement of patronage to complete the patron-client relationship between the voter and the elected.
The ultimate objective of the top-most machine politician, the prime minister, is to capture the largest pool of capital in the budget – the Rs873,000,000,000 PSDP (Public Sector Development Program). Of the Rs873 billion, Rs513 billion is doled out to the four chief ministers, while the remaining Rs360 billion is doled out to MNAs and senators.
This is how D Morgan writing for Fair Observer described Pakistan’s machine politics: “National and regional power brokers, usually in the form of the large political parties, award favours – cash, jobs and influence – to their supporters in return for votes. This means that most of the money that should be going into education, renewing decrepit infrastructure......and investing in electricity generation is actually wasted through patronage. While this allows the large parties to create the illusion of popular support in the short term, it beggars the country over the longer term. Supporters and functionaries of the PPP or the PML-N, the two largest parties, are able to amass personal fortunes...........for themselves and their relatives, while the country as a whole goes to hell in a handcart.”
A machine is an apparatus used “to perform a particular task”, while politics is all about “acquisition and application of power.” Our machine politicians have perfected the machine that collects votes for them so that they can acquire power. What is good for Pakistan or for Pakistanis has absolutely no place in any of this. We call the process ‘general elections’.
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com
Pakistanisage
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PTI has overwhelming support in the big Cities and Urban areas but the rural is still pro-nawaz in Punjab and Pro-Zardari in Sindh.
Peaceful Civilian
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PTI is not bad choice. OK let give them a chance to new leader IK.
Dil Pakistan
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IR but he is not imran khan but will be the king of imran khan
Who is IR ?
haviZsultan
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I'm voting for PTI... but we are overseas Pakistanis. I think the question is will people within the country switch to Imran Khan.
Jango
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KPK and Punjab, 2 provinces PTI should heavily campaign in.
Balochistan is another area, but it is a grey area, you don't really know anything about it. Campaign or not, everything will remain the same, the feudal sardar will have a stranglehold there.
Balochistan is another area, but it is a grey area, you don't really know anything about it. Campaign or not, everything will remain the same, the feudal sardar will have a stranglehold there.
fatman17
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Capital suggestion...NA-151 Multan IV
Farrukh Saleem
Thursday, July 26, 2012
The three most critical statistics of this constituency are: One; according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) there are 351,092 registered votes in NA-151, Multan IV.
Two; according to the Centre for Strategic & International Studies, “poverty level in Southern Punjab is between 48 percent and 64 percent.”
Three; according to the Saraiki Waseb Development Organisation (SWADO), “In Southern Punjab, there is one school in 7,500 villages while the literacy percentage is 12 percent in this part of South Asia.”
Back in 2008, Gallup Pakistan conducted an Exit Poll according to which 43 percent of PPP voters are “illiterate” compared to 26 percent PML-N voters.
According to the same Exit Poll the PPP has a much higher share of “very poor” voters as compared to the PML-N.
Intriguingly, only five percent of PPP voters have a Bachelors or Masters degree while the same percentage for the PML-N stands at 11 percent.
From Multan down to Rahim Yar Khan there are some three-dozen National Assembly constituencies and all of these constituencies have at least three common characteristics:
One; high poverty. Two; high illiteracy. Three; low television penetration (high TV penetration makes elections more issue-driven).
As a consequence, elections in Multan, Vihari, Muzaffargarh, Lodhran, DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan have very little to do with issues – whether domestic or international – or with the morality standards of the candidate or with the past history of the candidate.
The two things that matter in Multan, Vihari, Muzaffargarh, Lodhran, DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan are: dhaara-bandi and thana-kutchery.
According to a survey conducted by the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP),“Thatta – the home town of Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza – and Multan – the home town of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani – have more eligible families for Benazir Income Support Card than the whole province of Balochistan.”
Last month, John Roberts, the 17thchief justice of the United States, stated, “It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”
The 351,092 registered voters of NA-151 have made a political choice.
No one can now protect them from the consequences – poverty and illiteracy – of their political choice.
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh 15@hotmail.com
Farrukh Saleem
Thursday, July 26, 2012
The three most critical statistics of this constituency are: One; according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) there are 351,092 registered votes in NA-151, Multan IV.
Two; according to the Centre for Strategic & International Studies, “poverty level in Southern Punjab is between 48 percent and 64 percent.”
Three; according to the Saraiki Waseb Development Organisation (SWADO), “In Southern Punjab, there is one school in 7,500 villages while the literacy percentage is 12 percent in this part of South Asia.”
Back in 2008, Gallup Pakistan conducted an Exit Poll according to which 43 percent of PPP voters are “illiterate” compared to 26 percent PML-N voters.
According to the same Exit Poll the PPP has a much higher share of “very poor” voters as compared to the PML-N.
Intriguingly, only five percent of PPP voters have a Bachelors or Masters degree while the same percentage for the PML-N stands at 11 percent.
From Multan down to Rahim Yar Khan there are some three-dozen National Assembly constituencies and all of these constituencies have at least three common characteristics:
One; high poverty. Two; high illiteracy. Three; low television penetration (high TV penetration makes elections more issue-driven).
As a consequence, elections in Multan, Vihari, Muzaffargarh, Lodhran, DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan have very little to do with issues – whether domestic or international – or with the morality standards of the candidate or with the past history of the candidate.
The two things that matter in Multan, Vihari, Muzaffargarh, Lodhran, DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan are: dhaara-bandi and thana-kutchery.
According to a survey conducted by the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP),“Thatta – the home town of Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza – and Multan – the home town of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani – have more eligible families for Benazir Income Support Card than the whole province of Balochistan.”
Last month, John Roberts, the 17thchief justice of the United States, stated, “It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”
The 351,092 registered voters of NA-151 have made a political choice.
No one can now protect them from the consequences – poverty and illiteracy – of their political choice.
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh 15@hotmail.com
fatman17
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Weak election body could lead to military rule:
ICG News
Pakistan Today
ISLAMABAD - With the next general election looming large and the future of Pakistan centered on it, all eyes are fixed on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and how smoothly it conducts them.
The International Crisis Group (ICG), an independent and non-profit group committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict, has cautioned that a weak and unreformed election body would raise the risk of rigged elections with the propensity to derail the fledgling democracy of Pakistan.
“A weak and unreformed ECP would raise the risk of flawed elections that the military might use as justification to derail the democratic process, paving the way for yet another indefinite period of unaccountable rule and destabilizing a fragile polity,” said the latest report of the ICG on election reforms in Pakistan. The hotly anticipated elections are due when the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led coalition government completes its five-year term in March 2013, or earlier if it so decides.
Emphasizing over the reforms in ECP, the report said that the stability of Pakistan’s democratic transition will depend, to a considerable extent, on the manner in which the election body conducts the next general elections, adding that, “change through the ballot box and reforms in the ECP and not through the military or the courts, is vital”.
Recalling the country’s chequered history, the report noted that “rigged elections and distortions of the democratic process by military regimes or military-controlled governments have left the ECP in an advanced state of institutional decay”.
It further stated that “if the next elections are to result in the smooth transition of power from one elected government to another and be widely perceived as legitimate and democratic by all stakeholders, it is imperative that the ECP be truly independent, impartial and effective”.
The ICG added that the ECP was facing several challenges, including insecurity, particularly in the tribal borderlands, the declining writ of the state, and the participation of more than 84 million registered voters in the elections. In the interests of democratic consolidation, the PPP and its main parliamentary opposition, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), should put aside their political differences and focus on empowering the ECP, the report added.
It further said the ruling party and the political opposition [within and outside parliament] must cooperate to ensure that the ECP’s amended code of conduct, based on the Supreme Court’s directives, does not curb legitimate political activity and disenfranchise voters.
It noted that relations between the PPP and opposition are edgy to say the least, but after the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, “they now face the urgent task of reaching a consensus on the appointment of an impartial caretaker government in the centre and the provinces. The longer this is delayed, the greater the prospects of the electoral process, and even the democratic transition, coming to a halt”. However, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, as the government and opposition have recently exchanged proposals for the next caretaker government through informal channels and are likely to hold formal meetings over the subject after Eidul Fitr.
ICG News
Pakistan Today
ISLAMABAD - With the next general election looming large and the future of Pakistan centered on it, all eyes are fixed on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and how smoothly it conducts them.
The International Crisis Group (ICG), an independent and non-profit group committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict, has cautioned that a weak and unreformed election body would raise the risk of rigged elections with the propensity to derail the fledgling democracy of Pakistan.
“A weak and unreformed ECP would raise the risk of flawed elections that the military might use as justification to derail the democratic process, paving the way for yet another indefinite period of unaccountable rule and destabilizing a fragile polity,” said the latest report of the ICG on election reforms in Pakistan. The hotly anticipated elections are due when the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led coalition government completes its five-year term in March 2013, or earlier if it so decides.
Emphasizing over the reforms in ECP, the report said that the stability of Pakistan’s democratic transition will depend, to a considerable extent, on the manner in which the election body conducts the next general elections, adding that, “change through the ballot box and reforms in the ECP and not through the military or the courts, is vital”.
Recalling the country’s chequered history, the report noted that “rigged elections and distortions of the democratic process by military regimes or military-controlled governments have left the ECP in an advanced state of institutional decay”.
It further stated that “if the next elections are to result in the smooth transition of power from one elected government to another and be widely perceived as legitimate and democratic by all stakeholders, it is imperative that the ECP be truly independent, impartial and effective”.
The ICG added that the ECP was facing several challenges, including insecurity, particularly in the tribal borderlands, the declining writ of the state, and the participation of more than 84 million registered voters in the elections. In the interests of democratic consolidation, the PPP and its main parliamentary opposition, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), should put aside their political differences and focus on empowering the ECP, the report added.
It further said the ruling party and the political opposition [within and outside parliament] must cooperate to ensure that the ECP’s amended code of conduct, based on the Supreme Court’s directives, does not curb legitimate political activity and disenfranchise voters.
It noted that relations between the PPP and opposition are edgy to say the least, but after the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, “they now face the urgent task of reaching a consensus on the appointment of an impartial caretaker government in the centre and the provinces. The longer this is delayed, the greater the prospects of the electoral process, and even the democratic transition, coming to a halt”. However, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, as the government and opposition have recently exchanged proposals for the next caretaker government through informal channels and are likely to hold formal meetings over the subject after Eidul Fitr.
AstanoshKhan
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Voter fraud: 65% of votes in Balochistan were bogus
By Irfan Ghauri
Published: September 22, 2011
ECP and NADRA reveal staggering figures for 2008 general election.
For more staggering results read the full article.
Voter fraud: 65% of votes in Balochistan were bogus – The Express Tribune
By Irfan Ghauri
Published: September 22, 2011
ECP and NADRA reveal staggering figures for 2008 general election.
For more staggering results read the full article.
Voter fraud: 65% of votes in Balochistan were bogus – The Express Tribune
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