Tribe come first, as the tribal districts vote for first time after merger with KP

A jirga of tribesmen being held in South Waziristan to build consensus on one candidate for NA-50 from South Waziristan tribal region. (AN photo)

• Analysts believe that after the merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, polls in tribal districts can be fairer as people can now approach courts before and after elections
• Now the Election Commission is very close to the region as the province is monitoring the process and though sometimes violations take place

PESHAWAR: While the tribal districts will vote in the July general elections for the first time in Pakistan’s history, after their merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), observers say that tribal connections still play an important role in the elections despite the existence of political parties.
The tribal districts’ residents, both men and women, will vote to elect 12 members of the National Assembly.
Though the tribal districts have elected their MNAs in the past as well, this is the first time they have participated in the process after the merger with KP.
The erstwhile Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA), has long faced a ban on party political activities; this is why in tribal society, political parties are not influential as in settled areas of KP, and tribal people still prefer tribal connections to political parties.
The political parties’ activities started in the then FATA region after the Pakistan People’s Party-led government extended the Political Parties Act there in 2011.
FATA Lawyers Forum president Rahim Shah believes that the tribe connection matters the most in elections. “The Political Parties Act was extended to the tribal districts a few years ago. Before that, there were no activities by political parties in the region. This is why the political parties still don’t have that much influence as the tribes or personalities,” he added.
He said the most important factor with regard to ballot in the tribal districts is tribe. The second is personalities and third is political parties.
He added that a candidate has more chance of winning if he has both a tribe’s support and a party’s backing.
Ali Shinwari, who lives close to the Afghan border of Torkham, said that in the previous elections there was little care for code of conduct, which used to be prepared by the federal government, located at a huge distance from the then FATA region.
“Now the Election Commission is very close to the region as the province is monitoring the process and though sometimes violations take place, the fact remains that the tribal candidates are more careful with regard to the code of conduct, compared with the past,” he added.
Shinwari also said an independent candidate having support of a tribe can defeat a political party candidate. “A candidate of Pakistan Democratic and Justice Party Daulat Shash withdrew in favor of an independent candidate (who is supported by his tribe) Sher Mat Khan recently in Khyber district,” he said.
Muhammada Khan, an elder of Khyber district’s Loey Shalman area in Landikotal, says many in the tribal area depend on their tribes when it comes to voting. “A candidate living in the same area is preferred to one who comes from outside to contest in the tribal area. This is because in tribal society, one must attend wedding and funeral ceremonies in his area. This is why the candidate can win support if he is contesting from the same area where he lives,” he added.
Regional Election Commissioner for tribal districts Inayatullah Wazir says the tribal districts have a total of 2.5 million registered voters, who will exercise their right to vote at 1,884 polling stations on polling day.
A political analyst based in Peshawar, Prof Dr. Khadim Hussain, said that this time the National Assembly elections in the tribal districts would be fairer than they used to be because in the past, the tribals could not appeal to courts against any poll rigging.
“After merger of FATA into KP, the tribal people can even approach courts against violation of the code of conduct and also they can appeal to courts and the election commission after the elections. Previously the courts had no jurisdiction in the then FATA,” he added.
Even if there are violations of election code of conduct this time, such issues would reduce with the passage of time by the next polls, he added.
About the support to ideologies, he said that because political parties are a comparatively new phenomenon in the tribal districts, the support to ideologies is still weak and many there still depend on the tribal connections and personalities to decide whom to vote for.
“The use of black money in the elections is also reducing in the elections now after the tribal region’s merger into KP,” he added.