I don’t know how come I missed the column yesterday. Late night, I was reminded by the newsroom about the piece, and at that time, I was nowhere. Apologies.
The election dust has settled, the votes counted, and the new government formations are underway.
This is the time for the Pakistan Musli m League-N (PML-N) to sit and look back. Well, results are unexpected and not good. Though my friends insist that the party will have smooth sailing in Punjab, and can have coalition governments in the centre and Balochistan, but this is not what the party had planned.
First thing: did the party have a plan before going into the elections?
Some would say “yes”, and some would say “no”.
My take is: the party did have a plan but this was not a good plan.
Looking at the results of recent elections, a crucial question lingers for the party that why, despite Nawaz Sharif’s presence among the public and his personal appeal, did the party fall short of its full potential?
Since his return, Nawaz Sharif had a poor public engagement. The party did not utilize his potential appeal to grab more votes. Instead, the PML-N relied solely on Nawaz Sharif’s charisma. Well, charisma works when there is a plan for media engagement, policy presentation, and voter mobilization.
I followed Nawaz Sharif’s rallies in Punjab and found them well-attended. They were full of charged crowd. While his personal popularity brought the workers to rally venues and voters to the polls, the candidates seemed less active than its potential suggested.
I visited a couple of union councils of NA-128 on the Election Day. What I saw was shocking. There were no arrangements for voters pick and drop. There were no motivated workers at polling camps.
The party should have plans A, B and C for the election day and even for pre-polling days.
Since I belong to the media, let me discuss the media policy of the party. Frankly, the party had no media engagement policy. In a couple of meeting with Senator Irfan Siddiqui, I had put up several suggestions. When I met Nawaz Sharif in London before his historic flight to Pakistan, I had suggested him to run an aggressive media campaign.
Despite boasting talented people, PML-N’s media strategy faltered. The party failed to develop an election programme. The party could not give the media a narrative. The party had no clear defence for its coalition government performance.
While the other side compared governance records, PML-N lacked a counter-narrative. The absence of a clear message on media platforms hurt the party’s image.
While inflation undoubtedly impacted the PML-N, the party had no clear answers. Daniyal Aziz could not be managed. Ahsan Iqbal could not come up with clear responses. A friend said that the coalition government’s burden did not affect parties like PPP. Then, why the PML-N alon? This raises questions. Similarly, PTI’s financial struggles in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa did not translate into electoral losses. Focusing solely on inflation ignores other potential factors.
The party released the manifesto very late and later, its projection was never stressed. Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Namaz addressed rallies without party’s manifesto. Similarly, the party left candidates without a concrete plan to present to voters. This lack of roadmap weakened the campaign’s message and direction.
Many things can be said about the reasons for defeat as it is easy to pick holes in the defeated side. I wonder why the party awarded tickets to the repeaters, which demotivates other party members. The party could not be reached Miftah Ismael, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Javed Hashmi who kept on criticizing the party after leaving.
The post-election period presents an opportunity for introspection and rebuilding.
The recent elections were a lesson for PML-N. Moving forward, the party must go beyond relying solely on Nawaz Sharif’s personal appeal. Building a strong organizational structure, engaging effectively with the media, and providing concrete solutions to voters’ concerns are crucial for securing future success. The time for introspection and strategic rebuilding is now.
