The national and provincial elections held on 18^th February 2008 have been successfully held to the overall satisfaction of all political parties in the country, the people of Pakistan and the Pakistani media in general and all international observers largely.

In these elections, the Pakistan Peoples Party has been elected as the party with the largest number of seats in the national assembly and it is obvious that the PPP will lead any coalition government formed in the Centre.

The PPP has been elected at a time when the country is faced with many pressing problems and one can sympathize with the PPP for inheriting such a plethora of problems.

But having said that,  one must point out that the people have voted for the Peoples Party because their party leader Benazir, when she was alive, in her election campaign had promised them the basics i.e. bread, clothing and housing or roti, kapra and makan  and so did many of her party leaders though not in the very same words.

As far as the people are concerned, they want immediate solution to their problems. But many party leaders have pointed out, it is too early for them to speak of their plans for solving the people’s problems –their election has no yet been officially notified by the election commission and the national provincial governments are yet to be formed. The whole process is likely to be finalized by end March 2008.But the media’s impatience probably reflects correctly the impatience of the people of Pakistan, especially the poor people.

As such, however hurried it may seem to the party elected to power, while the political stalwarts of the party are busy in the game of government formation as best as possible, they should direct the economic whiz kids of the party to get going and prepare a package that can alleviate to a reasonable extent the problems of the people.

Many will try to divert the attention of the party towards their own immediate interest and it is also quite human to relax somewhat after victory has been achieved. But it must be remembered by the party leadership that they have been elected at a very difficult time and it must get down to serious business without losing precious time.

This is a time when the mettle of the leadership of the party will be tested to the utmost but if it can come out ahead in the contest then it can truly claim to be the true representative party of the people.

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Tags: Benazir Bhutto, Elections, PPP