PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal reflecting on the results of Elections 2024 and the voter turnout shared some ‘pearls of wisdom’ for traditional political parties to respond and cope up new realities and voter trends.
Ahsan Iqbal acknowledging the Imran Khan (IK) phenomenon said: “Imran Khan is middle and educated classes and youth rebellion against traditional politics in which older parties are very strongly entrenched in their traditional power bases with no meaningful space for them.”
Challenge for older parties
Ahsan Iqbal said the challenge for older parties is to align their politics with the new emerging socio-economic dynamics and create space for these segments in their party structures.
India example
PMLN leader from Narowal said that the same phenomenon took place in India with the emergence of Anna Hazare Movement in 2011.
“There BJP seized the new challenge and co-opted middle class, youth and corporate sector while Congress remained captive to the orthodoxy of electoral politics. AAP was another outcome of this phenomenon,” he said.
Worldwide electoral politics has become vulnerable to manipulation with lethal combination of data science and technology for shaping narratives and micro targeting the voters. Older parties have to up their response.
