Tougher challenge lies ahead

ALL eyes are on the general elections, now just a month away. But what will happen after the election will be far more consequential to the country’s future. Formidable challenges await the next government. The governing ability of the election winner will be constrained by the complex dynamics of a volatile domestic environment. This is characterised by persisting polarisation, the most serious economic crisis in the country’s history, surge in security threats, declining capacity of state institutions, a fraught regional situation and a polity in which power has shifted more substantively to the military establishment. A slew of domestic and external challenges will test the government. These challenges will require the elected leadership to distinguish between the urgent and important while crafting a strategy to deal with both. Most consequential for the country’s future will be the government’s ability to deal with an economy in the critical ward.