democracy. What about the other two-third?
Pakistan is not heading in the right direction – both in electoral and economic terms. The current electoral system revolves around three things. One, the post-election distribution of state assets among the winners, their families and their supporters. Two, the rural politics of dhara-bandi. Three, politics of thana-kutchery. This electoral status quo needs to be broken.
The first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system is deeply, deeply flawed. The PTI, for instance, managed nearly 17 percent of the popular votes but got only 10 percent of the general seats. The PML-N, for instance, managed only 33 percent of the popular votes but got nearly 50 percent of the general seats.
For the record, 14.8 million votes were polled in favour of the PML-N. For the record, 30 million votes were polled in favoor of candidates other than those of the PML-N’s. Isn’t the first-past-the-post electoral system deeply, deeply flawed?
The only countries that continue to follow the first-past-the-post electoral system are the United Kingdom, the United States and some of the United Kingdom’s ex-colonies.
On the other hand, the system of proportional representation is being practised by Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, European Union, Finland, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungry, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, Moldavia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Northern Ireland, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey and Uruguay.
Mark Twain once said, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15hotmail.com. Twitter: saleemfarrukh