What the promise fulfillment levels mean

Promises, promises, promises. That’s the sum of much campaigning, but then we hear little until the next election rolls around. Then we hear that the party fulfilled all its promises.

It is easy to lose track of these promises, when there are so many - and they sound so great in a rousing campaign speech. They make colorful, catchy quotes as well.

But Truth Tracker is going to watch as the winners unfold their plans to fulfill those promises. We’ll write about the key promises and then check in occasionally to see how it’s going. When a promise is broken, fulfilled, or compromised, we’ll let you know.

We used the party symbols for our icons portraying the stages. PML-N, holding the Centre and Punjab, is a tiger. PTI, ruling in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is a cricket bat. And PPP, which rules in Sindh, is the arrow.

These are the five stages of promise fulfillment:

Not Started

If a promise is just hanging there, with no action at all, we label it as Not Started. No action, just talk.

Underway

Once the party has taken some action or positive steps, we label the promise as Underway. This means there is visible progress toward fulfillment.

Compromise

The reality of politics is that you can’t always get what you want. Promises that can’t be fulfilled, but lead to an action that goes partway to fulfillment, are labeled Compromise.

Broken

When the promise is clearly not going to be fulfilled, we label it Broken. A promise can stagnate for a long time, but we won’t call it broken until there is a decision by the ruling party or a defeat in legislation.

Fulfilled

On those happy occasions when a promise is actually carried out, we will mark it Fulfilled. Caution: The promise has to be fulfilled by the means that the party told the voters. Cheating to fulfill a promise counts as a compromise.