Key takeaways from the May 11 elections

Now that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has officially notified the results from May 11 polls, perhaps it is time to take stock of what lessons these historic elections had to offer.
First up is the highest voter turnout witnessed since the 1980s, which indicates many positives. On one hand, it points towards a renewal of peoples faith in the democratic process. Despite the pre-poll violence and Election Day apprehensions, people decided to turn up.
As a result, democracys inherent cleansing mechanism manifested itself. For instance, in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the majority of the electorate punished those political parties which did not meet their expectations. Also, many candidates who had been blotted with charges of corruption or malpractices were not returned to the legislature.
More importantly, the higher voter turnout means that individuals have come to realise the value their single votes carry. Much credit is due here to Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, along with the traditional media and social media, for mobilising segments of the electorate that probably voted for the first, and hopefully not the last, time.
Enfranchisement is gaining ground in Pakistan. Post-poll demonstrations show that voters, who in most cases had to stand in heat and long queues for hours to exercise their voting right, will not tolerate practices that undermine the electoral process.
Another key takeaway is that negative campaigning doesn work, especially when there are no governance credentials to back it up with. The Pakistan Peoples Party relied on its broadcast media advertisement onslaught on Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz to dent the latters fortunes in Punjab - but it backfired, pretty badly.
Similarly, PTIs efforts to hang PPP governments failures around PML-Ns neck yielded little in Punjab.
These elections have also shown that ground game or get-out-the-vote efforts are at least as important as preparing party manifestos and holding massive rallies. PTI has bagged the second highest number of votes, which is a testament to the partys grassroots efforts. However, to break into the PML-Ns base, especially alongside the G T Road, PTI would need to focus on different demographics next time.
It seems that provincial electorates voted on different issues. Perhaps, thats why no two provinces have gone to one political party. The KP electorate seemingly had law and order as their biggest concern, but in Punjab, loadshedding and unemployment seem to have ticked the majority in favour of PML-N. While Balochistan has voted in the Nationalists, In Sindh, PPP has held its fort thanks to its seasoned overlords.
The May 11 polls have been regarded as largely free and fair by international observers, yet they have also brought the ECPs inadequacies and inconsistencies into sharp focus with reference to its pre- and post-poll conduct. Going forward, the ECP must streamline its processes with inputs from the political parties and civil society organisations.
Issues such as staff training, enforcement of campaign rules, ballot paper security, poll results reporting transparency, etc. have to be on top of the ECPs agenda for an improved election exercise next time. Maintenance of law & order doesn fall under the commissions purview, but it affects the whole electoral process and its outcome, therefore ECP needs to find a way to ensure violence-free elections.