Pakistan polls: Imran Khan lost the plot

What happened? This is the question on the lips of the many shocked supporters of Imran Khan leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) a day after the May 11 general elections.
In the lead up to the elections Khan was on a roll. He claimed repeatedly that a ‘tsunami’ would sweep him to power. A series of massively attended public meetings, a surge at the polls and an army of adoring youthful supporters seemed to support his claim. But it was not to be. With the vote almost fully counted unofficial results show his party has 29 seats in the 272-seat National Assembly. The Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N) has 130 and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — the former ruling party — has 33.
Going from just one seat the last time the PTI contested elections to 29 seats in the National Assembly is quite an achievement. But it is well short of what the party’s ardent and youthful supporters expected.
So what did happen? Why was the PTI not able to fulfill its promise? There is no single answer. Khan’s rise to political prominence started with a public meeting in Lahore in October 2011. Estimates of attendance ranged widely from 200,000 to half a million people. It was a spectacular event by any measure. It signaled his arrival as a serious political contender and triggered a stampede amongst the nation’s top politicians who started to fall over each other to join the PTI.
Yet, ironically, this meeting is also where Khan’s downfall begins. He mistook the large turnout as a proxy for eventual electoral success. A poor assumption which led to arrogance and a series of errors. The first of these was to welcome into the party many traditional and tainted politicians — people he had previously vowed to keep out. This blurred, in the public perception, the distinction between the PTI and the other parties. It also led to deep divisions inside the PTI.
With near a million fans on Facebook, Khan may also have been misled by his popularity on social media. This is something Gen. Musharraf discovered to his chagrin when he returned to Pakistan recently from exile to find that only a few hundred of his close to one million FB followers showed up to receive him.
As elections approached the PTI’s errors multiplied. Aside from vague and largely unrealistic promises the party failed to enunciate a clear vision for ruling Pakistan. Khan instead spent most of his time on the stump lambasting the PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif in language unbecoming of a statesman and a would-be prime minister. These included silly cricketing metaphors like “clean bowling” Sharif or “hitting him for a six.” Indeed his reliance on cricketing metaphors and linking his cricketing World Cup success to his ability to govern Pakistan suggested shallow thinking and a failure to appreciate the seriousness of the task. Voters were not impressed.
Many of these issues are easily addressed. But there is another problem which may be more difficult to fix. This has to do with Imran Khan the man. Successful politicians bond with their public. On the stump Khan comes across as somewhat aloof, maybe even arrogant at times. He seems to lack the common touch. The bear hug. The easy smile. The ever-ready handshake. Words from the heart. Can Khan recreate himself so that he is both approachable and popular?
As he lies now in his hospital bed recovering from serious injury suffered during a horrendous fall while being lifted to a stage, Imran Khan has the sympathy and prayers of the whole nation. He also has much to think about.