Barely a few hours left for the critical elections in Pakistan, the global opinion is quite clear–the army’s interference in the electoral process can turn out to be counterproductive for the country and former Prime Minister Imran Khan is still a power to reckon with.
Some outlets predicted that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has the army’s backing, could become the next premier.
Radio Free Liberty, a liberal voice, lamented that voters have been disillusioned by the alleged meddling of the powerful army -- widely seen as the kingmaker in the South Asian nation -- ahead of the vote.Pakistan’s generals have been accused of orchestrating the jailing of opposition figure Imran Khan -- the former prime minister who was ousted from power after falling out with the military -- and the crackdown on his Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI) party.
The news platform quoted Syed Irfan Ashraf, a university lecturer in Peshawar, as saying that elections are designed to keep the army’s grip on power. The military, which has directly ruled the country for nearly half of its 76-year history, has an oversized role in Pakistan’s domestic and foreign affairs. He added that “This means that a military regime is in power, and they want political leaders to sustain and reinforce their power.”
Japanese newspaper Nikkei Asia called it a one-sided election. The report said the military has been in direct control for 32 of Pakistan's 76 years of existence and pulled strings behind the scenes for the other 44.. The report quoted Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the U.S. and currently a scholar at Washington’s Hudson Institute, termed the system as a “hybrid regime” — a complex interdependence between politicians and generals in which powerful parties rely on military intervention to come to power and to stay there, while the military relies on the politicians to govern — as long as they toe the line.The military’s favoured candidate this time is Khan’s former nemesis, Nawaz Sharif, who is a curious choice given that he served three terms as prime minister and was ousted from the job the same number of times by the military, in 1993, 1999, and 2017.
Foreign Policy feared that the elections, like the past ones, would be managed by the army and there was little hope for stability.
The Guardian wrote that Nawaz Sharif was the choice of the army this time. He said the man widely expected to become the next prime minister after Thursday’s elections has been a familiar face in Pakistani politics for almost four decades. Nawaz Sharif, the three-time former prime minister, is likely to be on the brink of a fourth term having been brought back from exile in the UK.It was an alleged backroom deal made with Pakistan’s powerful military that enabled Sharif’s return from exile and he is widely regarded as its “selected” candidate for prime minister, making him a clear frontrunner.“
The BBC reported that the military is widely regarded as Pakistan's most powerful institution and has deep influence on its politics. It has ruled the country directly for more than three decades since its formation in 1947, and has continued to play a big role thereafter. No prime minister in Pakistan has ever finished a five-year term, but three out of four military dictators were able to rule for more than nine years each.
Well known think tank, the International Crisis Group, said the elections were being held in a climate of deep political polarisation and a military crackdown on former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI party.
The New York Times said people, at least in Punjab, were fed up with the army. And it’s become clear, many say, that a group once widely supported in Punjab is to blame: the country’s military. The influential US newspaper quoted a Punjab resident: “We aren’t faulting the politicians anymore — now we know who to blame.We’re living in a security state.” The new report said that anger is shared across Punjab, a stark shift over the past two years that has shaken a core tenet of a political system whose ultimate authority is the military. The growing criticism in Punjab has chipped away at the military’s legitimacy and helped make this one of the most polarised moments in Pakistan’s history.