The Marketing Analysis of Pakistan Politics
Parties
By
Sajid Ali
Bs Commerce 5th Semester,
Roll No: 1104171
Department of Commerce,
The federal Urdu University Abdul Haq Campus,
Karachi, Pakistan
Professor Farooq Khatri
Department of Commerce,
The federal Urdu University Abdul Haq Campus,
Karachi, Pakistan
The marketing of Pakistan’s political parties
The Marketing Analysis of Pakistan Politics Parties
Political
Marketing Background:
“Political marketing is about facilitating the societal process of political exchange, while political marketing management describes the ‘art and science’ of successfully managing
Business strategists have defined political marketing as: “marketing designed to influence voters about political issues, particular candidates for public office, or public issues. Although political marketing uses many of the same techniques that other forms of marketing do, it is actually used to promote a concept or an idea, rather than a specific product or service, and to motivate people to vote for that idea”.
The American Marketing Association has defined Political Marketing as:” Marketing designed to influence target audiences to vote for a particular person, party, or proposition. Attempts by an individual or organization only to educate or change attitudes are not political marketing”.
Political
marketing is practically not a new idea; parties and candidates are marketing
themselves from ages. However, now it has been acknowledged as a separate
intellectual concept. The paper examines basic flaws made by candidates and/or
political parties of Pakistan and leads to inappropriate implementation and
unsatisfactory results. This makes politicians of Pakistan feel that marketing
has nothing to do in politics.
In Pakistan; corruption, destructive opposition, illiterate practices and lack of voter orientation result in distrust of voters in politicians and their parties. The paper recommends that voter’s trust can be built by avoiding over promising, focusing on voter’s needs, designing integrated communication and distribution channels, managing strategic relationship with media, and incorporating the idea of public funding and parallel campaign management.
In Pakistan; corruption, destructive opposition, illiterate practices and lack of voter orientation result in distrust of voters in politicians and their parties. The paper recommends that voter’s trust can be built by avoiding over promising, focusing on voter’s needs, designing integrated communication and distribution channels, managing strategic relationship with media, and incorporating the idea of public funding and parallel campaign management.
Introduction
In
conventional Political Science literature, Political Marketing is relatively a
new terminology. It implies the usage of six Ps of marketing i.e. product,
price, place, promotion, people and
Process in
politics (Kotler & Kotler, 1999).
Political
advertising, celebrity endorsements, involvement of professional consultants
and campaign managers; online
Campaigning,
mobile phone canvassing, segmentation and micro targeting, etc. are some of the
techniques being used extensively in Political Marketing. Political marketing
has been widely used by both military rulers and democratic leaders to win mass
support, sustain power and build
Their
branded image; and has significantly affected the working style of political
parties and their leaders. According to Harrop (1990), Political Marketing is
not simply about party advertising, political broadcasts and electoral speeches
but it covers the whole area of party positioning in the
Electoral
market. According to O' Cass (1996) the use of Political Marketing offers political
parties the ability to address diverse voter concerns and needs through
marketing analysis, planning, implementation and control of political and
electoral campaigns. Harris & Kolovos (2005), Political Marketing is being
used and implemented with different names and different forms since centuries.
Kelly (1956) by and large, is considered to be the first, who used the term
Political Marketing, it was regarded as a significant subject even in that era.
According to Hussain (2008), Political Marketing is still in developing phase
and calls for a lot more in the area to formally make it recognized as a
separate academic discipline. Political Marketing is highly significant to
democratic governments, especially in developing and underdeveloped
Countries.
The marketing of Pakistan’s political parties
Formally
executed or not, the strategies of many political parties and the activities of
their followers have striking analogies with several marketing principles. At
times, these analogies and their conceptual underpinnings are overshadowed by
the corruption associated with politics. Yet the dynamism that ensues with the
amalgamation of two otherwise distant fields – politics and marketing – has
surged in recent years in Pakistan. The realm of political marketing is
emerging formally in Pakistan within the folds of professional marketing.
Political marketing deals with how politicians, political parties, governments
and associated stakeholders harness the vast knowledge base of marketing in
their political undertakings.
Parties and Positioning:
Different political parties
have their own ideology and strategy framework in which they operate and from
which they deviate very little. Any strategy shift, as rare as it is, still
remains rooted in the ideologies of their founders. In fact, these political
parties have championed their ideology at different periods and while
navigating an ever changing political landscape. For instance, the practice of
the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to
dole out public sector jobs and welfare payments has its genesis in socialist
views. Although the founder of the party was not a socialist, he was inclined
to the view that employment and the welfare of every citizen is the
responsibility of the state. Unarguably, this practice had a detrimental impact
on many public sector organizations like PIA and Pakistan Steel (to name but
two state enterprises), yet the party remained glued to its founding
principles. This positioning was so well communicated that the PPP became
associated with ‘roti, kapra and makaan’ – the basic necessities of life. Subsequently,
the Bhutto family’s impact on the party was so strong that even the surname of
Benazir Bhutto’s children was changed to ensure that the legacy and its charm stay.
The
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and other religious political
parties have used Islam’s name to the level where these parties are
colloquially known as ‘religious parties’ (as if all others were ‘non-religious
parties’!). It goes without saying that it has always been the positioning that
created this image for these parties.
The
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has
evolved a different positioning on its journey to become a force in Pakistani
politics. Imran Khan’s youthful image (despite the fact that he turned 60 in
2012) remains core to their positioning. Also, reminiscent of Obama’s 2008
election campaign slogan, the PTI has used ‘change’ as a mantra in its
positioning strategy which is manifested in challenging the culture of
monarchies and patriarchy within political parties. The PTI then positioned
itself as a party that would hold intra-party elections even at the grassroots
level. This is a positioning arena where the JI has been very weak. Few people
know that the intra-party democratic paradigm in the JI is has been in force
for decades. However, the party failed to leverage this positioning, enabling
the PTI to take the lead. This is analogous to how some brands take a
particular positioning over others in the mind of their customers.
Regional or National? – Segmentation and Targeting at Work:
The
Muttahaida Quami Movement (MQM) had historically focused on urban Sindh,
particularly Karachi and Hyderabad. However, in the last few years the party
has shown a willingness to test its mettle in other parts of the country, not
an easy task for a party that has remained focused on particular geographical
segments for decades. However, when it did move beyond its time tested
constituencies and cities, the MQM changed its positioning altogether. Today,
when the Urdu-speaking party leaders cross new demographics in Pakistan, they
are experimenting with new positioning and targeting strategies. Among these,
‘MQM – a challenge to the status quo’ has proved to be ubiquitously successful.
Although
quintessential positioning statements such as changing the system, fighting
corruption, providing jobs, etc., are suited to the targeting strategies of the
national parties, locally relevant statements have proved to be effective for
local or regional parties. Thus, the Awami National Party (ANP) continues to
woo Pakhtuns voters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa deliberately disengaging from other
ethnic groups in the Province. Such strategies are carefully planned, based on
the parliamentary representation of a particular region and its ethnic
composition in the national and provincial legislatures.
Election Symbols – the Brands:
The election symbols of the
political parties are part of their marketing campaigns. The importance of
these symbols (logo) increases in a market where literacy levels are low and
many people cannot even read the name of their candidate on the ballot paper.
The true power of brands in Pakistani politics was further exemplified in March
2013 when a court decision upheld the JUI’s decision to contest the election
using the symbol of a ‘closed book’. The Election Commission of Pakistan had
earlier directed the party to change the symbol to an ‘open book’ with clear
Urdu alphabets. The idea was to avoid any possible association of the symbol
with the Holy Quran. As inappropriate as it may seem, this demonstrates how the
religious parties are using key religious elements for their branding and
positioning.
The
PTI uses ‘insaf’ (justice) as its key positioning and had to do
battle with the JI to have a weighing scale as the election symbol. Having
failed, they settled for a bat aimed at recalling their skipper’s cricketing
career.
The
political parties have learnt to exploit their election symbols in their
communication; lion, sword and arrow among others have exhibited their
potential in the past.
Politics and Elections – Marketing and Sales:
More holistically, the
parallel between elections and sales and politics and marketing is even more
striking than any of the above analogies. Sales activities, for example
personal selling, generally have a short term, revenue-oriented horizon. On the
other hand, marketing activities such as brand building have a long term
horizon. Similarly, for any political party, the years of struggle can be
equally weighed against what it achieves during an election campaign and more
so on Election Day. For political parties, all marketing activities lead to the
day their ‘consumers’ make the real purchase – cast their vote.
The
market share and the sales they win on Election Day is a perplexing phenomenon.
It cannot be as accurately predicted as it is in many developed countries due
to the influence of many seemingly trivial factors. For instance, the reality
in the rural areas is that votes can be won for trivial favors such as monetary
benefits, jobs, giveaways or even providing transport to the polling station
with some refreshments on the go (yes, that’s it!). Fielding the right
candidates from the right caste, sect or ethnicity can generate further
‘sales’. Deplorable as it may be for democracy, the humongous voter-base in the
rural areas remains devoid of any political thought and is still rooted in
these trivialities.
Bad Political Advertising!
It is
pertinent here to cite an example of a recent bad advertising campaign. As
dismaying as it is, this example illustrates how often the tools of political
marketing are used in the wrong way. Political advertising is at the heart of
political marketing and cannot be avoided, but doing it insensitively and
irresponsibly should be discouraged. When unrest and lawlessness was at its
peak in Balochistan, the provincial government chose to run a campaign in the
national print media flaunting its achievements over the last five years. In
different circumstances this would have been just an ad campaign with a short
lived impact on the target audience, but for the people who continue to endure
the hardships of life in Balochistan the campaign was painful. A parallel can
perhaps be drawn to Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned.
For
months now the leaders of all the political parties have been fighting it out
on TV shows and with jalsas in order
to achieve the right PR and positioning, yet Election Day ‘sales’ have their
own dynamics and may or may not be founded on any of these positioning. A
democratic parliamentary system will prove to be a much more challenging
marketing environment to compete in compared to even highly competitive product
categories.
1.
Product Function:
In Political
Marketing practice, a product, like mainstream marketing, should be formally designed
to be offered by a political party to her electoral market. The product, a
party wants to
Market can
be intangible like a promise of good governance, the image of the candidate, an
Ideology or certain foreign policies, etc.
In Pakistan
parties are unsuccessful to design products according to the needs and wants of
the public because there is lack of customer orientation in their new product
development process. So what is recommended is that political parties should
revise their product strategy based on customer orientation, and position them
in such a way that their offerings can be easily differentiated from those of
their competing parties. Most importantly, parties should avoid raising
people’s expectations by over-promising rather they should build image of high
credibility so that people can believe in their promises which might be
slightly lower than then on realistic illusions offered by their competitors.
Leader’s characteristics is a very important phenomenon, charismatic leadership
can prove to be a differential advantage for a political party; for example,
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto lead his party to the highest peaks by using the charisma
of his personality and focusing on voters’ preferences. He gave a clear motto,
based on public needs, of Roti, Kapra Aur Makan (Food,
Cloth and Shelter) and won the hearts of people.
2.
Distribution Function:
According to
Henneberg, Understand
Provided
access to all relevant information about the political products, information regarding
key party policies and programs are disseminated, placing the candidates in
right channels, and making sure that channel of distribution fits the ideology
of the party etc. Campaign delivery is very important and very expensive but
has become misleading in our
Elections
because in Pakistan politicians criticize the previous government’s
performance, promise for the improvement of literacy, employment and poverty,
and the implementation of Islamic values etc. It indirectly leads to over
promising with the voters which raise voter’sexpectations and promises for
better performance than the previous government place a
Multiplying
affect to further raise the expectations. On the other hand most of the
landlord and feudal politicians, to whom politics had become their family
business, are not directly available to voters even during elections rather
their agent works for their victory based on their family power. Parties have
to be more conscious while designing their manifestos as the media is playing a
very Active role to educate and enhance the political wisdom of the voters and
on the other side in doing postmortem of the manifestoes and practices of the
political parties and their candidates. However, it may not influence the
opinions of the followers of landlord and feudal politicians.
Both the
parties and the candidates have to be very careful while campaign delivery, it
must be realistic and should be delivered personally by the candidates instead
of advancing through agents. After the elections, candidates and political
parties should ponder their promises and try to fulfill them in real essence.
3.
Cost Function:
In Political
Marketing, cost function deals with the
Management
of attitudinal and behavioral constraints of constituency members through
carefully Designed campaign strategies. All the information regarding the
political products should be Available to the voters without spending Rupees
i.e. feelings of national, economic and psychological hope or Insecurity.
Another role of cost function is to minimize the opportunity cost in decision making
process and electoral act itself. In Pakistan voters have to bear high
psychological costs due to raised expectations based on fake promises which
create frustration among the voters especially
The educated
and mature ones who can serve as reference groups.
In Pakistan
electoral campaigns are very expensive and it is estimated that campaign spending
was averaged USD 120,000 per candidate in the elections of 1997 and is
increasing election by election because politicians are ready to bear any cost
for their victory, this attitude has made voters more demanding for personal
interests. Pakistani voter’s perceptions of instrumental and psychological
benefits, the credibility of elections, and the costs associated with voting
all Influence the decision to vote directly and these are also major reasons of
falling voter’s turnover in Pakistan. These undue expenses in elections are
major burden on economy and are considered as a negative aspect of democracy.
Instead of vigorous spending to win the election the focus should be to build
and retain long term relationships with voters which will reduce the cost of
campaign in successive elections. It is also recommended that restrictions
should be imposed on amount of money to be exhausted in elections, as in UK.
This will provide a level playing field to all candidates. If the Political Marketing
is implemented in its real sense, it will generate satisfied and loyal voters
who will serve as buzz agents for the candidate and party which ultimately will
help to eliminate the psychological as well as monetary costs bear by the
voters.
4.
Communication Function:
Communication
function in Political Marketing deals with communicating the internal (party
Members) as well as external (voters) stake holders about the offer and its availability
importance of communication is just like heart in human body. For a political party
communication deals with interpretation of complex political jargons, spreading
of political ideas, contents of political campaign, future programs and
simplification of political messages. It interacts with campaign delivery aspects
of distribution function, prescribes a dialogue and provides a medium for
exchange partners.
In Pakistan,
political parties have lack of coordination and integrated communication within
themselves; different candidates give contradictory statements regarding hot
issues which create ambiguity in the minds of voters (Hussain, 2008) integrated
marketing communication approach should be implemented likewise mainstream
marketing to produce one single voice of the political party. In
external communication understanding of the voters’ characteristics is very important
e.g. how much voters are literate and what their needs and demands are. Due to
illiteracy and poverty Pakistani voters especially in the villages take risk to
believe in the words of their political leaders and are easily exploited by the
politicians through their loquacious speeches and promises. Parties have to
make a well defined system for internal integrated coordination and then should
plan for effective external communication. It will help to develop trust of
voters in the party and its product. In external communication, content or the real
message that has to be communicated to the voters should so clear that it
leaves no ambiguity for
The
audience.
5.
Public Relations Management:
Public
Relations Management plays indispensable role in the success of a Political
Marketing Campaign and is aimed at managing building positive attitude of the
public and media groups (secondary exchange partners) through managing good
news by establishing good long term relationship with them. It is a not a paid
activity and could not be directly controlled by the candidate and political
organization. Most of the political discourses with the electorate are mediated
through independent third parties e.g. media people. Managing good
relationships with third parties contributes great importance in building good
image of the candidate and political Party. News management involves
utilization of distribution channels with inherently high credibility levels.
However, the communication could not be controlled; it can only be influenced
for its better management. The exchange partners of the news management are
mostly journalists and opinion leaders.
In Pakistani
political scenario, candidates or parties try to find ‘way-outs’ to do negative
marketing against each other. This is the worst which parties can do with each
other as it ruins the image and shakes the trust of other parties and
candidates in the minds of the voters. For
example; the
daughter of a minister was appointed as first grade officer in foreign
ministry, when he was approached by journalists he simply refused to answer any
questions leaving ample space For media to criticize on him and his party for
this unlawful action. Such actions like refusal to answer or simply denying
strong allegations, are considered as negative news management and burst
negative word-of-mouth against candidate and party which is hardly
controllable. News management is the most difficult issue in today’s world
where media is very fast and blunt, and
In Pakistan
it is even more difficult where media is playing a central role in building or harming
image of the candidate and/or the political party. Pakistani politicians should
be courageous to face allegations against them and if found guilty, they should
apologies to the Nation, it may restore the credibility of the candidate. For
successful news management a well equipped and vigilant Public Relations
Department is indispensable.
6.
Fund Raising Function:
Unlike
mainstream marketing fund raising is an important issue in Political Marketing.
This function deals with collection of funds for political activities, the
performance of other functions
Also depends
on availability of funds. For the success of the political actors, availability
of sufficient funds is vital which calls for a distinct fund raising function. Political
parties, to a varying extent, depend on membership fee, donations, etc. for
funds. In some party
Systems,
Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency reports that in
Pakistani Political System there are a lot of deficiencies and drawbacks, the
most important of which are
Undue
influence of money in politics and corruption, which has almost excluded the
middle and poor people of the country from mainstream politics, an acute form
of political feudalism
Prevails in
the society.
In Pakistan
most of the political parties are owned and sponsored by the rich families,
therefore the leadership rotates within the family and there is hardly any
democracy within a party. Therefore, it is inevitable to re-examine our
political practices and transport the desirable reforms. To eliminate the
dependence of political parties on rich families and for the promotion of
democracy public funding could be an effective tool. Major political parties
should take into consideration this idea of public funding and incorporate in their
manifesto if they found it appropriate. Intellectuals of society and media
people should also consider this idea and should do open debates on it to
develop consensus on public funding in political system of Pakistan. It will be
helpful in developing reforms and real democracy within the parties in
particular and country politics in general.
7.
Parallel Campaign Management Function:
This
function focuses on the co-ordination of campaign activities of the political
party with those organizations who have overlapping or similar point(s) on
their agenda, like “Tabdeli {Changes)
Or Naya Pakistan”
idea, which overlaps among many Pakistani social and democratic organizations
Activities
by other.
In Pakistan
the concept of parallel campaign management is hardly in practice because the
role
of modern
social welfare organizations is perceived to be insignificant to influence the opinions
and attitudes of the masses at country level; however, establishing parallel campaign
management partnership with the organizations which are influential at regional
can be beneficial for the political actors.
8.
Internal Cohesion Management Functions:
This
function deals with managing the relationship among party members, activists
and spokespersons. This function plays a very vital role in creating internal stability,
credibility and party’s outside image, and should be managed professionally
because it has strong repercussions on the voters’ assessment of candidate
and/or his party. However a too ‘monolithic’ appearance of the party gives the
impression of an undemocratic decision making process and derisory influence of
grass root members within the party. As much as one can exercise power over
others by satisfying their needs and expectations; one thereby paradoxically
submits oneself to their pioneer
In Pakistan,
political parties have traditionally been weak and unable to perform their main
functions in an effective and meaningful manner due to inter alias, periodic
restrictions on political activities under military rules, infrequent
elections, weak organizational structure, poor
Discipline
among the members, absence of attractive socio-economic programs, and a paucity
of financial resources. Political parties also suffer from factionalism based
on personality, region and ideology (International Crisis Group, 2005).
Democracy within the parties can help to deal with such problems because
hereditary leadership leads to conflicts within party and thusformation of new
group or party become inevitable.
(SWOT) Analysis of Pakistan Political Parties
Pakistan
Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N)
Strengths:
PML-N has a strong following in
Punjab – the largest and most powerful province in Pakistan. Furthermore, it
has a great alignment with right wing groups and religious circles. Major
cities of Punjab have seen tremendous development during the last five years.
Weaknesses:
PML-N has not been able to carry
out any substantial development in remote areas and far off villages of Punjab.
It has teamed up with same old faces that previously supported and strengthened
a dictator’s government.
Opportunities:
The poor performance of Sindh,
Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) governments in the last five years has
created a vacuum which can certainly be filled up by PML-N.
Threats:
PML-N faces a possible setback in
terms of their vote bank by the growing popularity of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
(PTI) in Punjab. They are also being labeled as a patron of extremist groups in
the country, which has further dented their credibility as a progressive
political party.
Pakistan
People’s Party (PPP)
Strengths:
PPP has a strong bond with the
rural populace of Sindh and a few pockets in urban centers. The legacy of
Bhutto still stands strong today and PPP has been successfully cashing on to it.
Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) is another project that won them
accolades among the poor masses.
Weaknesses:
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PPP has
displayed the poorest performance ever in the history of Pakistan with a few
high profile corruption cases against their mainstream leadership. Bilawal Zardari lacks leadership qualities and
has no connection with the common workers (jiyalas) of PPP and
currently enjoys all the support just because of his late mother Benazir
Bhutto. Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is famous worldwide for his alleged
corruption and his stay on the top slot has forced a lot of die hard workers
and PPP stalwarts to distance themselves from the party.
Opportunities:
PPP can utilize its popular
support in rural Sindh and BISP project in order to secure a land sliding
victory in the upcoming elections.
Threats:
Being a liberal party, PPP is
under constant threat by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Jamaat-e-Islami
(JI)
Strengths:
Jamaat-e-Islami has a strong following
among religious circles. Their network across the nation on a whole remains
strong and effective. JI has stayed corruption free and their top tier
leadership has managed to stay out of scandals with their simple way of life
and religious inclination. Ex-mayor Naimatullah Khan gave Karachi a major
uplift during his tenure which won JI a huge fan base.
Weaknesses:
JI’s pessimistic approach towards
politics has strengthened their position as critics of the highest order, but
there has been no constructive and productive role from their side towards
forming a national government.
Opportunities:
JI and its
student wing Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) have great potential in mobilizing
students for national and religious causes. This street power if utilized
effectively can be converted into votes in the next elections.
Threats:
JI has lost all its ground in
Karachi which was previously considered as a strong hold for them. Their stringent
and stubborn approach has singled them out and now they have to struggle to
regain their vote bank.
Muttahida
Quami Movement (MQM)
Strengths:
MQM probably
has the largest pool of educated candidates from middle class social strata.
They have a strong and effective infrastruc
Weaknesses:
The founder
of MQM Mr. Altaf Hussain for
various reasons has been living in self-exile which often results in a plethora
of accusations and concerns shown by media and politicians from time to time.
During their last tenure, their swapping of roles from government to opposition
and opposition to government benches pointed towards confused policy making.
Opportunities:
MQM manifesto if properly
implemented can change the face of this country. Their stand against feudalism and extremism
can bring about a revolution if they are given a chance to show their
performance on the national front. Their pool of educated young men and women
mostly from middle income group can contribute very effectively towards the
progress of Pakistan.
Threats:
TTP remains a constant threat to
MQM due to their liberal stance.
Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
Strengths:
Imran Khan’s philanthropy and
success story of Shaukat Khanam Hospital is the main driving force behind PTI.
He has successfully mobilized and brought the youth of Pakistan under PTI’s
umbrella which was otherwise clueless and least concerned regarding the
political future of the country.
Weaknesses:
PTI lacks discipline. The party has big names among
its top tier leadership but they seem to be promoting their own personal
agendas rather than spreading Imran Khan’s message. PTI workers have little
patience and lack political insight.
Opportunities:
PTI has
never been tried and tested. They are fresh out of the bag and ready to bring a change. Elections 2013 give the party an excellent
opportunity to bring into action all the promises that they have made.
Threats:
PTI’s only threat is its own
leaders who haven’t really enjoyed a clean and credible past.
Pakistan
Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q)
Strengths:
PML-Q enjoys
massive support in rural Punjab. It has successfully tapped into the vacuum
left behind when Nawaz Sharif was sent packing by Pervez Musharraf. Their alliance with PPP
provided them another ruling stint and thus cementing their position in the
electoral politics of Pakistan even though they started off as a king’s party.
Weaknesses:
In the last couple of years,
PML-Q has experienced further disintegration into smaller groups and change of
loyalties by their once strong party stalwarts.
Opportunities:
PML-Q enjoys good working
relationship with MQM and PPP. With a little seat adjustment in Sindh they can
bag a sizable amount of votes both in Punjab and Sindh provided they tap in
traditional strongholds of Sindhi nationalist groups.
Threats:
The only threat to PML-Q is PML-N
which has once again established itself as its strong opponent in Punjab.
Awami
National Party (ANP)
Strengths:
ANP has quite successfully
managed to win over the Pakhtuns of K-P and Sindh and in the last five years,
the continued law and order situation in the urban centers specifically Karachi
further polarized the situation on ethnic lines hence strengthening the
traditional Pakhtun vote bank of ANP.
Weaknesses:
ANP’s exclusively Pakhtun-centric
politics has restricted their voter base to traditional Pashto speaking
communities and thus a limited vote bank.
Opportunities:
This party can take electoral
advantage of the rapidly growing Pakhtun presence in urban regions of Sindh and
thus emerge as a strong political entity in the next elections
Threats:
ANP is
probably the only political party that has suffered the most in terms of
assassinations of their leaders and workers by TTP for their liberal approach
and communist ideology. They remain the TTP’s prime target.
Conclusion and Recommendations:
Traditional
political culture, illiterate voters and candidates, corruption, destructive
opposition etc. are major factors which create hindrance in building a healthy
democratic political Environment in Pakistan which
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