FOREIGN Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warned on Thursday that the next elections could be bloody if all political parties failed to reach a consensus on a basic code of conduct for polls in the light of the increasing polarization and divide in the county.
Bilawal, who is also the Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, said on the floor of the National Assembly that no one was ready to follow the rules of the game warning what would be left if there will be no trust in democracy and democratic processes.
The political parties might have sharp differences but they cannot afford to ignore the sagacious proposition of the budding leader of the PPP as elections without reforms and an agreement on code of conduct would be meaningless in the prevailing highly polarized environment.
The PTI wants immediate elections obviously to cash upon the sympathy vote and now there are also strong demands from within the PML(N) to go for polls but it could prove to be futile exercise if the outcome is made controversial as has been the tradition in our country.
The previous Government made some moves towards electoral reforms but these were purely unilateral and, therefore, did not enjoy support of other political parties.
The present Government would be repeating the mistake of PTI if it opted to carry out reforms without taking the Opposition on board.
Therefore, the two sides should start immediate dialogue to finalize electoral reforms to lay grounds for fresh elections.
