Black Money in Elections

The 2013 parliamentary election in Pakistan is on track to be the most expensive in our history. Money always plays a decisive role in Pak politics and the play of black money is terribly high, every parliamentarian starts his career with a lie—the declaration of assets and electoral expenditure. It is expected money factor would rule high in coming elections too. Many candidates are even now spending tens of millions of rupees campaigning. The politics of black money has corroded the moral fiber of Pakistani polity. Public money ‘looted’ through an ‘unholy nexus’ between PPP, MQM, ANP politicians and bureaucrats is being used for the May, 11. If you have friends in politics, just ask them whether the money they spend on their campaigns is black or white. Outgoing government will try to use money to come into the power due to its poor performance of five years. Distribution of money to voters before polls would subvert and pollute the nation’s democratic system. The ECP should exercise utmost vigilance to curb such activities.

Politicians need votes, certainly, to win election and re-election, but they also need money. And while an individual’s vote carries an expectation that the candidate will look out for constituent’s interests if elected, a campaign contribution by the big businessmen and industrialists may carry an expectation that the money will get repaid in the form of favorable legislation, less stringent regulations, political appointments, government contracts or tax rebates—to name a few forms of payback, with donors accountable to no one, while the national media sleeps and few voters seem to care. Money has been playing an increasingly dominant role in Pakistani elections. It appears that nobody can seriously run for high office without access to huge sums of money needed to purchase significant amounts of mass media exposure. It is not really possible to check how much money our political parties get from which businessmen. Suffice it to say, that the ruling party always gets the most money in its tenure and that the bigger the politician, the more money he gets.

Every year in Pakistan, billions of dollars are stolen and hidden abroad. All the loans and grants given to Pakistan are always stolen and banked in personal bank accounts abroad. The stolen money benefits those foreign Nations. This is the money that is being used to build wonderful bridges, beautiful highways and skyscrapers in those foreign Nations where the stolen money is hidden. Yet the impoverished Pakistanis are forced to pay back the loans that never reached them. It sickens to hear the same foreign Nations who have been benefiting from the looted public funds at the expense of the suffering and dying poor Pakistanis, pretending to be sympathetic to the plight of the Pakistani people. Further, large quantities of money, set aside for development schemes and other purposes by the government, are mostly end up being used by politicians on certain groups of people who become vote banks for politicians. As a result those in urgent need of help get nothing. Black and unregulated money flow continues to be a biggest hurdle in the way of free and fair elections in Pakistan.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is trying to keep the election expenses in limit but the black money will defiantly circulate for election campaigns. Can a small number of very wealthy people use large sums of money to elect governments that will consistently favor the wealthy against the vast majority of the population? Indeed this has been happening in an increasingly blatant manner for a long time. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The big advantage that the 99% has over the 1% is that there are more of us than there are of them. The challenge is to exploit that advantage intelligently to overcome the money factor. All the political parties are worried as a different kind of politics is slowly emerging in Pakistan. So far they are used to winning on the basis of bribing voters, money power and muscle power but now the voters have awakened. The coming elections will not be elections but revolution. The country could only be salvaged from the mire of existing problems if the people made a right decision in the elections.

Pakistanis deserve a democracy in which all people are equal and all voices are heard, not one where some businessmen / industrialists can spend secret millions of rupees and create dependencies so our elected representatives are beholden to their interests. Use of black money must stop in election and ECP should take all the steps to stop it. If some people are found to be violating the guidelines of ECP, they would be declared ineligible for the elections. Pakistanis have a right to know who is trying to buy our elections, and the time is long since passed to enact strong, common sense requirements to ensure transparency and accountability. The Government and the Election Commission should seriously take notice of the growing influence of black money in elections and every single effort should be made to eliminate the possibility of people and money invading into our electoral system. These elections are going to be the biggest test for every Pakistani too. Are we going to vote again for the thugs who have been looting us forever or we are going to patriot candidates and vote for change?