Political historians believe that the first assembly of citizens met at Pynx, a small hillock outside Athens around 507 BC. A line was drawn in the middle of the hill, where Athenians had to take sides and be counted. Little did they know that democracy will become a way of life for the civilised world. Agora, the old market place or bazaar was where it all started. There was a healthy exchange of ideas and opinions. A startling new thought for mankind emerged.
“He would prefer dying in freedom, from the folly of his neighbours, to living securely under the prudence of tyrants”.
Direct democracy was effective but short lived to be replaced by a representative form. Ballot boxes were introduced, instead of show of hands, votes were casted and then the ballot papers were counted to determine the will of the people. It brought third party intervention and mischief. Spin masters (Dabba Pirs) and magicians got involved. Angels came to vote in certain constituencies the number of ballots exceeded the registered voters.
Switzerland is perhaps the only country in the world where direct democracy is practiced till today through ‘Cantons’, where common citizens vote. The decisions are then carried all the way and implemented. It is the strongest economy of the world and the country is stable even without a standing army. The citizen not only votes in the ‘Canton’, he is also trained to be a solider to defend the motherland. Democracy continues to flourish without the ballot, spin masters and angels. The will of the people, can only prevail through participation not representation, the Swiss are a living proof of it.
Pakistan was created through the ballot which was credible under the colonial masters. Since then, the will of the people prevailed only once in 1970 electoral exercise. The colonial establishment could not fathom defeat in both wings of the country. A new concept of ballot manipulation was introduced by Zia called ‘Positive Results’. It was fake representation followed by sham elections in 1985, the trend continues till today.
The sanctity of the ballot has been seriously compromised thereby rendering the entire exercise futile. Voters have lost interest which leads to a low turn-out, which in turn provides a free hand to manipulators. If only 50% of the registered voters exercise their right, the ‘angels’ can then fill the ballot boxes at will. Buying votes is only a small component of foul play, stuffing and coercion plays a bigger role in producing ‘Positive Results’.
Using Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) has been debated to eliminate human intervention but there seems to be very slow progress mainly because major political players are not interested. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) also lacks the will and resources to deliver an honest election. Currently, the army has been involved in maintaining harmony at the voting stations. The use of weapons continues to be a menace and should be dealt with an iron hand.
In the recent past, mobile phone companies went through a process of SIM verification and currently CNICs are being checked electronically by NADRA. To restore the sanctity of the ballot, every box can be fitted with the thumb impression mechanism. Every voter who casts his ballot will have to have his thumb verified. This will eliminate stuffing of the boxes that is the biggest electoral menace of our times. Only thumb verified votes will then be counted and the rest automatically rejected. There are all kinds of arguments against the choices exercised by the people which do not hold ground. In three of the four constituencies opened by ECP on PTI’s demand, disqualifications have taken place and the rest will follow soon. Ayaz Sadiq got re-elected by repeating old tricks while Saad Rafiq survives on court stay orders and Jehangir Tareen has managed to outplay/outspend the forces of manipulation.
Democracy in our times has lost its vigour and usefulness. Athenians must be turning in their graves to observe the plight of democratic order today. Representative democracy is failing around the globe mainly because of lack of citizens’ participation and manipulation of the external forces. Unless links are established between the elected and the electorate, the entire process may come to a grinding halt. Intermediaries usually defocus human links and bonds, which is why religions are losing their hold over humanity. The ‘Political Mullahs’ are now getting obsolete; humans have decided to take charge.
In democracy, a headcount is important for which voter turnout is required. We, the students of the sixties played a key role in toppling the dictatorship of Ayub Khan and then forcing an honest ballot in 1970. The will of the people prevailed, turnout was 63.5%, the highest to date. This was the ablest assembly ever, that produced two constitutions (1972, 1973). The democratic order has survived because of the unanimous 1973 constitution. The next ballot in 2018 or earlier can be a repeat of the 1970 free and fair elections if the available thumb impression verification technology is used together with the corrected NADRA CNIC verified lists. The ballot box has to be made impregnable with every vote traceable otherwise representative democracy will perish. In 430 to 420 BC, Athens democracy was born in the old Bazaar or Agora. It met its waterloo in 1977 in Anarkali Bazaar when Bhutto’s vigilante attacked the shop keepers. Now the PML (N) goons are getting ready to attack democracy which is driven through credible ballot not bullets and bandits as has been wrongly perceived. Let the electoral reforms start with focus on the ballot box. The era of the Angels/Dabba Pirs and Double Shahs is over. In the 21st century, we can do better than that by plugging the ballot box crevices with appropriate technology.