<\/p>\n
In the five-year marriage of the \u2018hukamraan\u2019<\/em> and the \u2018awaam\u2019<\/em>, manifestos are the wedding vows.<\/p>\n With just two days to go for the February 8 general elections, mainstream political parties have finally<\/strong> unveiled their rather ambitious election manifestos \u2014 a list of mostly empty promises.<\/p>\n An election manifesto is a list of policies that a political party vows to enact if it is voted into office. To put it simply, in the five-year marriage of the \u2018hukamraan<\/em>\u2019 and the \u2018awaam<\/em>\u2019, manifestos are the wedding vows.<\/p>\n If crafted smartly, they can bridge the gap between political parties and voters, particularly young ones who comprise over 45 per cent of the total registered voters in the country.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, in Pakistan, election manifestos have become more of a strict ritual than a meaningful exercise.<\/p>\n According to Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency (Pildat) President Ahmed Bilal Mehmood, political parties feel that a large segment of voters do not bother much about reading election manifestos to make up their mind on voting or not voting for a party.<\/p>\n \u201cThey may have been right until a few elections ago when a growing middle class, the rise of social media and the youth bulge in the voters\u2019 list started changing poll dynamics. At least an emerging class of voters is no longer content with the traditional politics of slogans, tall promises, opponent-bashing and communicating with voters on issues only during elections. Voters demand greater engagement,\u201d he writes in an op-ed<\/a> for Dawn<\/em>.<\/p>\n It is not surprising that major political parties including the PML-N, PPP and PTI only recently unveiled their manifesto, a few days before the elections. And, as usual, they lack an action plan.<\/p>\n Therefore, before you pronounce \u2018I do\u2019 on Feb 8, Dawn.com<\/em> takes a look at and analyses the plausibility of some of the \u2018will dos\u2019 and \u2018won\u2019t dos\u2019 promised.<\/p>\n After multiple delays, the PML-N, which has been dubbed the \u2018king\u2019s party\u2019 this year, unveiled<\/a> its election manifesto on January 27. Among several other promises, the party, without going into detail, vowed to introduce a series of measures to bring down the inflation rate to 6pc.<\/p>\n The Nawaz Sharif-led party described its policy document as the culmination of three-month-long efforts by over 30 committees.<\/p>\n According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the inflation rate \u2014 measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) \u2014 for January clocked in<\/a> at 28.34pc year-on-year. During its Monetary Policy Committee meeting earlier this week, the State Bank of Pakistan also raised<\/a> the average inflation forecast for the fiscal year ending in June to 23-25pc from a previous projection of 20-22pc, due to rising gas and electricity prices.<\/p>\n Taking inflation down over four times looks like an uphill task for Nawaz Sharif. But macroeconomist Sajid Amin Javed says it is doable.<\/p>\n If the PML-N emerges victorious in the forthcoming polls and manages to form a government, it may be able to bring inflation down to 6pc by the end of its term in 2027, he told Dawn.com<\/em>.<\/p>\n Amin said that if the rupee is artificially overvalued \u2014 a job former finance minister and Nawaz\u2019s close aide Ishaq Dar knows well \u2014 it could slow down inflation, but warned that has its own set of disadvantages.<\/p>\n Another way the economist sees inflation coming down is through the base price effect when a larger change in absolute prices \u2014 that affects purchasing power \u2014 shows a smaller percentage as the base price.<\/p>\n Another pledge that Nawaz made in his manifesto was to bring the unemployment rate to 5pc by creating at least 10 million jobs during his five years in power.<\/p>\n A similar promise was previously made by incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, who headed the PTI government from 2018 to 2022, but his vows did not materialise.<\/p>\n Most of us may be used to it now, but it is best to prepare for yet another disappointment.<\/p>\n In June last year, just a month before the Shehbaz Sharif-led Pakistan Democratic Movement\u2019s government dissolved the National Assembly, it had approved<\/a> an estimated 3.5pc GDP growth target for its 2023-24 financial year budget.<\/p>\n But despite an improved global outlook and a $3 billion standby agreement with International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank last month lowered<\/a> Pakis\u00adtan\u2019s economic growth forecast to 2pc for the current fiscal year. The global lender also slightly revised downward (by 0.1pc) the next fiscal year\u2019s growth forecast to 3.2pc.<\/p>\n While the World Bank\u2019s growth forecast was significantly lower than the government\u2019s GDP growth target for the current year, it was generally in line with the State Bank of Pakistan\u2019s expectation of 2pc to 3pc as part of the monetary policy statement.<\/p>\n Keeping in view these expectations, it is a very difficult task for the PML-N, or any other party as a matter of fact, to create 10m jobs. Amin says the GDP growth rate needs to be between 6pc and 7pc to achieve the target, which is almost impossible in the current scenario.<\/p>\n The macroeconomist further lamented that including the PML-N, none of the parties had given an action plan along with their manifestos, which he stressed was the most important.<\/p>\n \u201cWill they go to the IMF or not? What will be done with the debt repayments? These are all questions that need to be answered,\u201d Amin added.<\/p>\n Several mainstream political parties, including the PML-N, PPP and Jamaat-i-Islami, have also focused on bringing down electricity prices.<\/p>\n Last year, Pakistan saw massive nationwide protests as inflation-weary citizens took to the streets to vent their anger against inflated bills.<\/p>\n \u2018Will bring inflation down to 6pc\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Will create 10m jobs\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Will reduce electricity prices\u2019<\/h2>\n