Election Day In Pakistan

Pakistanis head to the polls today. The elections are rigged. Will votes matter? Maybe so.

Millions of Pakistanis will head to the polls today, ostensibly to select their federal and provincial representatives, who in turn will choose the new prime minister and chief ministers. Will their votes matter? To a certain extent, yes. These elections are an exercise in managed competition.

In many electoral districts, the voting public will genuinely decide the victor. Elsewhere, Pervez Musharraf & Co. will actively intervene, skewing the results in their own favor.

That the polls would be rigged was never really a matter of debate. The real questions have been and remain: to what extent will the polls be rigged and where? How far will Musharraf go? Who will lose most from the rigging? Will the rigging–to use one of Musharraf’s favorite military terms–be “surgical” or more of a “shock and awe” variety? If Musharraf opts for the former, he can perhaps stay afloat. If he overstretches, then he will likely be submerged by both the opposition and elements of the so-called “establishment.”

So what would surgical and shock and awe rigging look like exactly? They’re best differentiated by their byproducts.

Follow the link for more. Stores have sold out of many goods as Pakistanis stock up in case of an outbreak of public anger if the elections appears fraudulent.

Read more on the Pakistani elections here, here, and here.

I have a friend over there now who got invited to be an election supervisor. I look forward to hearing about his first-hand impressions upon his return.