Zohran Mamadani is well on his way to becoming mayor of New York. This is a victory from the representation lens: A young South Asian Muslim who can win in a city like New York.
This is also a massive victory in the fight against inequality. His rival, Andrew Cuomo, was backed by billionaires and the powerful. Mamdani’s campaign drew people’s power. This is the power that should be important in any choice.
Election is one of the few roads left to average citizens to raise their vote, demand power and selected officials who would work in their interests instead of the elite.
Mamdani has been labeled as a socialist. He advocates for rent stabilization and of tackling the living cost of life through measures such as universal childcare and publicly owned grocery stores. He plans to finance these measures by taxing the rich. I have been following his campaign closely over the past few months and it was a lot in line with the ethosen of “Roti, Kapra, Makaan”.
I loved his campaign and I hope we can have a similar candidate to vote for, trust and look up to.
Unfortunately, our electoral system is broken. We do not have a local government system that works effectively. I remember hearing a few years ago that my city, Islamabad, had a mayor. However, I had no idea who voted for him or how he came to power. I also didn’t realize what to deliver, so I couldn’t keep him responsible.
I have worked very close to choices in my career. I’ve talked to people about their election preferences in many cities of Punjab and Sindh. Our people still vote for a candidate who can meet their hyper-room and often immediate needs. They often vote on who is likely to install Tubewells in their area, fix street lights, etc. These are easy gains.
The problem, however, is that MNAs and MPAs promise these benefits and are voted in rather than local Nazims and mayors. This signalizes the idea that our local government system is intentionally deficient. The role of parliamentarians is to work with legislation, but the incentives are structured in a way that their performance is measured with regard to local service delivery.
We urgently need local people who are invested in their community to lead local initiatives. We cannot have MNAs and MPAs flying in and out of different capitals to their homemade to sort problems. There are better ways to control.
It is hoped that we have more dynamic young people who go up in the political ranks – from cities to provinces to the center. I hope our political parties move away from dynastic politics and create room for young people.
I hope young people in Pakistan are not disillusioned by politics and continue to fight for their rights and claim legitimacy and space. In future elections, there will be younger voters and this is the right time for a young Pakistani campaign to start by getting support and building their campaign.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and does not necessarily reflect Pakinomist.tv’s editorial policy.
The author is an independent policy expert
Originally published in the news
