We are delighted to announce that Abbas Arash (JD ’26) is the recipient of this year’s Writing Prize of the Harvard Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World for his paper, Resisting Repression: How the PTI Transformed Authoritarian Election Interference into Democratic Momentum. Arash’s work provides a deeply researched and powerfully argued analysis of Pakistan’s 2024 parliamentary elections, examining how the opposition party overcame intense state repression to secure the largest number of seats. Drawing on original fieldwork in Islamabad and Lahore, Arash conducted over 25 interviews with legal professionals, journalists, candidates, and election observers to understand how PTI mobilized voters in a deeply constrained political environment.
The paper situates the case within the literature on competitive authoritarianism and argues that legal repression can backfire when opposition parties adopt effective strategies. It details how the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (the Pakistan Movement for Justice, or PTI) used digital media, grassroots organizing, and symbolic messaging to inform and mobilize voters, even under conditions of surveillance and intimidation. Through its combination of empirical research and institutional analysis, the paper sheds light on how democratic actors can respond to and counteract authoritarian tactics within formally electoral systems. Resisting Repression is an outstanding example of legal scholarship that engages critically with contemporary political struggles—and offers vital lessons for defending democracy worldwide.