Political Campaign Spending Fattens Pakistani Media Bottomline

[Riaz Haq]

Fear of violence has reduced the number of traditional mass rallies this year, particularly in  Balochistan, KP and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. Instead, the political parties and candidates are increasingly relying on electronic and social media to reach out to voters in preparation for May 11 general elections in the country.

Pakistan Elections 2013 Signs

Top channels are charging as much as $2,200 a minute for prime time, a source in the advertising business told AFP, adding that up to $300,000 is being spent every day by three major parties: cricket hero Imran Khan's PTI,  former Prime Minister Bhutto's PPP and  former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's PML (N). 


Insiders say that politicians are using  money to buy support of media owners and journalists. A TV journalist told AFP that his bosses were favoring Imran Khan by ordering staff to cover all of his public meetings and rallies, because PTI had paid so much more money for ads.  "Special teams and the best equipment has been deployed for this
purpose," he told AFP on condition of anonymity. "When we cover other
politicians and send reports, they are trashed," he added.

Another popular TV anchor, Sana Bucha, quit her job at Dunya TV saying she would not sell her integrity. "This
elections in Pak, every1 - channel and anchor - is up for sale. I
refuse to put a price tag on myself,"she tweeted.

Source: BBC Pakistan  Survey in 2008

In addition to the use of television, there is a lot tweeting, texting and facebook campaigning being done to appeal to the younger voters who could turn out in record numbers to tilt the elections in Imran Khan's PTI's favor.

The 2013 elections will be the first to see the full impact of Pakistan's media and telecom revolution which began on President Musharraf's watch. The number of TV channels rose from one in 2000 to over 100 in 2008. In this period, the cell phone penetration exceeded 50% and Internet access became available to over 10% of the population.

To conclude this post, let me share with you an excerpt of a report by BBC's Lyse Doucet:

"Pakistan can be an unpredictable place. But in a chequered history that has kept lurching from crises to coups, one event has kept coming back, with reassuring certainty - elections. I've covered almost every one of them since 1988 when martial law abruptly ended and a people who fought for democracy directed their energies and enthusiasm towards the battle for ballots.
What boisterous campaigns there've been - massive rallies that packed stadiums and fields, convoys of vehicles snaking, horns blaring, through villages and down highways - a chaotic carnival in every constituency. But elections in Pakistan can't be like that anymore. It's simply too dangerous. Not a day goes by without a report of an attack by one of many armed groups on a politician, or a public space, or the police".

As the onslaught of Taliban's bombs and bullets against people's ballots unfolds,  their main targets in ANP, PPP and MQM are continuing to affirm their faith in the ballots by defying the Taliban terrorists.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Impact of Youth Vote and Taliban Violence on Elections 2013

Imran Khan's Social Media Campaign

Pakistan Elections 2013 Predictions

Why is Democracy Failing in Pakistan?

Poor Governance in Pakistan

Musharraf's Economic Legacy

The Real News From Pakistan

Pakistan's Economic Stagnation

Culture of Corruption in Pakistan

Pak Judges' Jihad Against Corruption

Pakistan Rolls Out 50Mbps Broadband Service

Mobile Internet in South Asia

Media and Telecom Sectors Growing in Pakistan

Internet Service Providers of Pakistan

[Riaz Haq]

Here's Daily Times on PML N plans on energy and economy:

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has ambitious plans to overcome the energy crisis in the country by creating an Energy Ministry, elimination of circular debt permanently and developing agriculture sector into a full fledged viable economic industry.

Mafias and monopolies in case of major agriculture products will be done away with by putting in place appropriate agricultural marketing strategies.

Agricultural education in general and curriculum of agriculture universities in particular will be modernised for promotion of agriculture sector.

Power sector: According to the party’s manifesto, PML-N has plans that a Ministry of Energy will be created through the merger of ministries of Water and power and petroleum and natural resources.

National Electric Power Regulatory Authority will be reformed to remove the bottlenecks in the development of power sector.

It has plans to reform the power distribution sector by reforming all the distribution companies so as to enable such to recover their dues and reduce losses and theft. It has also plans to reform the power generation sector and reforms will be introduced in the companies producing electricity in the public sector.

Circular debt, which has been identified as major roadblock in the power sector is to be permanently abolished by improving recoveries and other reforms. It has also plans that it will rationalise energy tariffs in line with the international prices across all fuel.

Consensus will be developed among various stakeholders to facilitate setting up of hydropower projects, major one being the Diamer Bhasha Dam. Alternate renewable energy sources will be developed.

Agriculture: The PML-N will turn agriculture into a fully viable economic industry by changing the policy framework and terms of trade in favour of agriculture. Focus will be on small farmers as the real backbone of the rural economy by providing access to knowledge, inputs and markets. Priority will be given to the development of livestock sector.

Cooperative movement will be revitalised to meet the real needs of the rural population by setting up agri-service corporations with majority equity of the poor and managed by professional managers

To reform the agricultural credit system to ensure that at least 50 percent of the total is provided to the small farmers, and landowners are able to obtain credit on the basis of the market value of the land rather than outdated produce index units.

Pakistan will be converted into a large net exporter of food and high value crops by removal of restrictions on agricultural exports.

Building consensus on the basis of the 1991 Water Accord on the distribution of Indus River Water will allow new water projects to be undertaken and extension of irrigation facilities to additional areas. Full utilisation of available water resources will be ensured by expanding the on farm water management programme.

The PML-N will initiate schemes for crop insurance through private insurance companies to protect the farmer against the vagaries of weather.

To encourage ecologically sound development policies to preserve and develop the country’s natural and forest resources to counteract the impact of global warming it has plans to provide incentives for farmers to adopt social forestry on a commercial scale rather than depend on restrictive laws for this purpose particularly in border areas. It will also expand the programme to fight the cancer of water-logging and salinity. ....

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\05\15\story_15-5-2013_pg5_1

[Riaz Haq]

Here is Election Commission's final tally in Pak elections as reported by Express Tribune:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that overall voter turnout in the 2013 general elections was recorded at 55.02% — a much higher percentage than elections since the 80s.

1988 1990 1993 1997 2002 2008 2013
Turnout 43.07% 45.46% 40.28% 35.42% 41.08% 44.23% 55.02%

According to the ECP, the lowest turnout was recorded in NA-42 South Waziristan, where only 11.57% of registered voters came out to vote.
The highest turnout was recorded at 84.77% in NA-191 Bahawalnagar.
This year, over 46.2 million people exercised their right to vote in the elections.
The PML-N got the majority of votes (14.8 million) followed by the PTI (7.5 million), the PPP (6.8 million) and the MQM (2.4 million).
Independent candidates picked up 5.8 million votes.

Name of Political Parties
Number of Seats Won
Total Votes Polled
Pakistan Muslim League (N)
125
14794188
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
27
7563504
Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians
31
6822958
Independent
32
5773494
Muttahidda Qaumi Movement
18
2422656
Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam (F)
10
1454907
Pakistan Muslim League
2
1405493
Pakistan Muslim League (F)
5
1007761
Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan
3
949394
Awami National Party
1
450561
MUTAHIDA DEENI MAHAZ
359589
Pukhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party
3
211989
National Peoples Party
2
196828
Pakistan Muslim League(Z)
1
126504
Bahawalpur National Awami Party
113156
Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Nazryati Pakistan
102417
Awami Muslim League Pakistan
1
93051
Sindh United Party
82728
Tehreek-e-Tahaffuze Pakistan
73503
Awami Jamhuri Ittehad Pakistan
1
71175
Pakistan Muslim League (J)
70247
Jamiat Ulma-e-Pakistan (Noorani)
68150
Balochistan National Party
1
64070
National Party
1
61171
All Pakistan Muslim League
1
54617

http://tribune.com.pk/story/552368/pakistan-elections-2013-total-vo...

[Riaz Haq]

Excerpt of a blog post in New York Times on Burgers (PTI supporters) vs Bun Kababs (MQM supporters) in recent elections in Karachi, Pakistan:

In the run-up to the second vote, the media predicted a showdown between the city’s burgers and bun kebabs. Gastronomic comments ranged from the frivolous to the frightening. Ayesha Tammy Haq, a broadcast journalist, tweeted, “All this burger-bun kebab talk is nonsense. After this election I am foie gras to your chopped liver.” A senior M.Q.M., meanwhile, warned that outright violence between burger and bun kebab could erupt, dividing the city. Such language highlights the continuing relevance of class divisions even after a campaign that focused on gender, youth and ethno-linguistic identity to mobilize voters. It is no laughing matter. On the eve of the second vote on Sunday, Zahra Shahid Hussain, a senior P.T.I. leader, was shot and killed outside her house in Karachi. Although the media reported that her death occurred during a burglary, Khan has said that the leader of M.Q.M., Altaf Hussain, is responsible. The burger vs. bun kebab divide has turned deadly.

http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/in-pakistan-even-jibes...