Dr. Daniel Markey, Ambassador Robin Raphael, and Dr. Hasan-Askari Rizvi held a presentation about Elections in Pakistan

Ambassador Robin Raphael, Dr. Hasan-Askari Rizvi, and Dr. Daniel Markey held a presentation Tuesday evening, January 29, 2008 concerning the viability of Elections in Pakistan.

Held in the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, there was a diverse crowd of students, press, and interested Pakistanis.

Dr. Markey was the first speaker and carefully outlined what he considers to be the “four ingredients” to conduct a free election in Pakistan. First, he said that they need a technically sound process. This included hiring outside election workers that would be independent and non-partisan. Second, the campaign would need security. He mentioned that there was no confidence from the people because there is great fear of terrorism. Third, they need political parties, and in that respect, they need parties that would actually be willing to participate.

Fourth, he discussed the great need for a free flow of information. This specifically was directed at the media outlets in Pakistan. I asked him after the presentation if there was the possibility that the media would be able to remain unbiased and simply present the facts as is, and he responded that was a major concern. During the presentation, he also said that the downside to the media in Pakistan is that the media is not well equipped and that they were not investigative.

The second speaker was Former Ambassador Raphael, who simply stated that Pakistan was not ready for elections in her opinion, but it was important for the elections to go forward as scheduled. An important key point, she said, was that the election must be credible because the outcome needs to be consistent with what the people expect. I asked her to expand on that point after the presentation, and she explained that the people would think that the elections had been rigged in some way if the winner was someone that they did not expect it to be.

The last speaker of the evening was Dr. Rizvi. He reiterated the sentiments of the two other speakers when he said that this was a very uncertain transition. He pointed out what he felt the two major problems were, which is how the change will be mediated, and what ultimate change actually is.

In his view, he says that Pakistan is ready at this stage to transition, and elections can facilitate that transition. Three major changes that have made them ready, he said, was a new confidence among the groups and activists, Musharaff has been more oppressive than ever before, and that ordinary people are facing the worst conditions ever. These three changes, he said, created the desire to challenge Authoritarianism.

He also added a “fifth ingredient” to Dr. Markey’s list for a successful election in Pakistan. The fifth ingredient, he said, was the determination to exercise power in order to enforce fairness. In his opinion, the United States should encourage Musharraf to have an honorable exit from power to facilitate a peaceful transition.