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What kind of elections?

Pakistan’s election commission is a handmaiden of the executive. The Supreme Court is packed with regime-loyalists who tossed out their allegiance to the Constitution and swore loyalty to the November 3 provisional constitutional order. The intimidation of the media has worked, at least partially. Both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif fear that under these circumstances, the January 8 election will be rigged in favour of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), the main politi cal ally of President Pervez Musharraf. But by deciding to participate in the election, the two former Prime Ministers have endowed the exercise with much credibility. It would have been different had they agreed to jointly boycott the elections, but their differences were too vast for this. Mr. Sharif wanted a boycott if the judges dismissed after the imposition of emergency rule were not reinstated. Ms Bhutto made it clear that the reinstatement of the deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhary, was not her number one priority. Determined to contest the election from the start because the alternative would be to “leave the field open,” Ms Bhutto also advanced the somewhat backhanded argument that only opposition participation in the election would force the regime to resort to rigging, thus showing up the exercise as a fraud. With this, Mr. Sharif could hardly be expected to stick to his “principled position” and keep his party out of the race, even though he himself has been unceremoniously turfed out of the election for a conviction in 2000 — since pardoned — and his brother for his alleged role in a murder.

In the midst of such political pragmatism, an idealist like Imran Khan — among the few who have decided to stay out of the election on the vital issue of the judiciary — runs the risk of political isolation, but may emerge taller for it. Mr. Sharif continues to maintain that the reinstatement of the sacked judges remains his first priority. He has vowed to turn the election into an “anti-Musharraf” referendum. But the election schedule is so tight that it hardly leaves any room for a meaty opposition campaign. The opposition parties lost too much time in deciding on participation in the election. Now, they will be able to hit the campaign trail in right earnest only in the last week of December, after the Eid holidays. The fear of terrorist attacks, government restrictions on political activity, and the winter are all likely to restrict the nature of the campaign. The best Pakistan’s two top democratic leaders can now do is cross their fingers and hope that the international community can influence General Musharraf to hold a “free and fair” election.

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