EDITORIAL: The latest postponement of local government elections in Islamabad is not merely an administrative lapse; it is an indictment of the state of democratic governance in the federal capital.
President Asif Ali Zardari’s ordinance, promulgated just days before the February 15 polling date, has once again derailed an electoral process for which thousands of citizens across all 125 union councils had already filed nomination papers.
Such last-minute disruptions do lasting damage to public trust, and reflect a persistent reluctance to devolve power to the grassroots.
The justification offered each time remains depressingly familiar: amendments to the Local Government Act, 2015. While legislative reform may at times be necessary, the timing and frequency of these changes suggest less an effort to improve governance and more a convenient excuse to delay elections.
The federal cabinet’s recent approval of 14 amendments — including replacing the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad with three town corporations — may warrant discussion.
What cannot be defended, however, is the continued suspension of a legal obligation to hold local elections within 120 days of the expiry of the previous LG’s term, which ended as far back as 2021. Responsibility for this democratic deficit is shared across the political spectrum.
The PTI government at the time failed to create the conditions for timely polls during its tenure. After its ouster, the PDM government initially appeared willing to move forward, only to repeatedly alter the number of union councils — from 50 to 101 and then to 125 — with little regard for the inevitable delays.
Each revision reset the process, while the Election Commission of Pakistan, despite repeated claims of preparations, chose to go along with executive decisions rather than assert its constitutional mandate.
Most troubling, however, is what the new ordinance reveals about the government’s intent.
By removing the six-month limit on the tenure of a government-appointed administrator and allowing that individual to remain in office until elections are eventually held, the ordinance effectively normalises unelected rule at the local level. This undermines the very idea of local government, which is meant to bring decision-making closer to the people rather than entrench bureaucratic control.
The suspicion that these postponements stem from fear of electoral defeat is difficult to dismiss. Avoiding that risk by indefinitely deferring polls may offer short-term political advantage, but it does so by eroding democratic practice.
Meanwhile, Islamabad’s residents continue to bear the cost. In the absence of elected local representatives, everyday civic problems — sanitation, water supply, traffic management, zoning and neighbourhood services — remain unresolved, with no accountable forum for redress. Islamabad deserves elected councils, not permanent administrators.
Continued postponement of LG elections only reinforces the perception that those in power are willing to undermine democratic norms to retain control — at the expense of the citizens they are meant to serve.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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