In parliament

Monday marked the third consecutive time in Pakistan that members of a democratically-elected National Assembly took oath of office. Whatever reservations one may have about the elections, this still represents a historic moment in the country. In all three instances, power has changed hands and in all three instances this transition took place relatively smoothly and was widely accepted. For a country that is accustomed to regular bursts of dictatorial rule interrupting periods of democracy, this is no small achievement. A total of 342 parliamentarians took oath, with outgoing speaker Ayaz Sadiq presiding. Asad Qaiser and Qasim Suri are now set to take over as speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly today. Both candidates should be elected fairly easily as the PTI enjoys the support of enough independent parliamentarians and the MQM-P to guarantee it a majority in the National Assembly.

Now that the PTI government is in place, it is time for the party to live up to its lofty promises. The PTI has promised voters a cleaner, more efficient government – a promise that has been dismissed by many as unrealistic. The one area in which the PTI can easily improve on its predecessors is by empowering parliament. The leadership of the PML-N saw attendance in the National Assembly as a chore and preferred entrusting all powers with the cabinet, the prime minister rarely deigning to appear in the house. During his time on the opposition benches, Imran Khan too rarely appeared in the National Assembly including for crucial sessions on the budget or when foreign leaders came to address parliament. He will now have to show greater respect to the most important democratic institution in the country.

To their credit, all the opposition parties attended the oath-taking session despite the reservations they continue to harbour about the conduct of the elections. The PTI too offered an olive branch to the opposition parties after a bruising election campaign, by meeting with opposition leaders and inviting them to attend the swearing-in ceremony. Such bonhomie is unlikely to last. The party layout in parliament means that the PTI will face a tough opposition. Provided the opposition plays a positive, constructive role, this is a good thing for democracy. It means plenty of discussion over the passing of legislation: something that goes in favour of the people, and also solid debate within the chamber where we hope this time around there will be more attention to legislative duties than in the past. There are already strong signs that there are still many among the PML-N parliamentarians who are in no mood for compromise with the PTI; as the single largest party in the Senate, the PML-N also has the ability to stifle any legislative initiatives of the new government.

However, the joint opposition that had been formed by the opposition parties after the election is already beginning to fray. They had agreed to field joint candidates for the prime minister, speaker and deputy speaker positions but the PPP is already indicating it will not vote for Shahbaz Sharif as prime minister, despite having agreed on his name initially. The two parties have been firmly opposed to each other since the Charter of Democracy broke down and for them to work together was always going to be unlikely. The best-case scenario is that they cooperate on matters of mutual interest, such as keeping the government honest, without it being a full-blown alliance. Importantly, unlike how the PTI reacted after the 2013 elections, however, the PML-N does not seem to intend to hold the country hostage. The new government so has an opportunity to honour its mandate by turning its campaign promises into reality.