Let’s have a young election

Zohran Mamadani is well on his way to becoming the mayor of New York. This is a win from the lens of representation: a young South Asian Muslim being able to win in a city like New York.

This is also a massive win in the fight against inequality. His rival, Andrew Cuomo, was backed by billionaires and those in power. Mamdani’s campaign drew upon people’s power. This is the power that should matter in any election. Elections are one of the few avenues left for average citizens to raise their voice, claim power and elect officials who would work in their interests instead of the elite.

Mamdani has been labelled a socialist. He has been advocating for rent stabilisation and for addressing the cost-of-living crisis through measures like universal childcare and publicly owned grocery stores. He plans on financing these measures by taxing the rich. I have been following his campaign closely the past few months, and it was very much in line with the ethos of ‘roti, kapra, makaan.’

I loved his campaign, and I hope we can have a similar candidate to vote for, trust in and look up to.

Unfortunately, our electoral system is broken. We do not have a local government system that works effectively. I recall that a few years ago, I heard that my city, Islamabad, had a mayor. However, I had no idea who voted for him or how he came into power. I was also unaware of what he was supposed to deliver, so I could not hold him accountable.

I have worked very closely on elections in my career. I have talked to people about their electoral preferences in many cities of Punjab and Sindh. Our people still vote for a candidate who can meet their hyper-local and often immediate needs. They often vote on who is likely to install tubewells in their area, fix streetlights etc. These are easy wins.

However, the problem is that MNAs and MPAs promise these benefits and get voted in, rather than local nazims and mayors. This signals the idea that our local government system is intentionally flawed. The role of parliamentarians is to work on legislation, yet the incentives are structured in a way that their performance is measured in terms of local service delivery.

We urgently need local people invested in their communities to lead local initiatives. We cannot have MNAs and MPAs flying in and out of different capitals to their home constituencies to sort out issues. There are better ways to govern.

One hopes we have more dynamic young people going up the political ranks – from cities to provinces to the centre. I hope our political parties move away from dynastic politics and create space for young people. I hope young people in Pakistan do not get disillusioned with politics and continue to fight for their rights and claim legitimacy and space.

In future elections, there will be younger voters and it is the right time for a young Pakistani campaign to start garnering support and building their campaign.

The writer is an independent policy expert.