Reader Aqil Sajjad has tried to initiate a discussion on internal party democracy and the need to revisit the process of awarding party tickets to candidates. Internal party reforms and means to strengthen it has been a subject of increasing interest and a number of ideas have been floated. To strengthen political parties for instance, there is the idea of introducing in Pakistan ( like some other parts of the world) idea of public funding for political parties. On awarding of party tickets, a few months back there was news that PPPP would be introducing a political test for candidates on which one of our team members penned some thoughts . Take a look and lets discuss the billion $ question of how to make the process of awarding party tickets more democratic and inclusive. Or is that a utopia?
The idea of taking a test is interesting, but I don’t think it addresses the real reasons for the lack of knowledge of the party’s constitution and manifesto.
The contents of the constitution are not well-known to the party members because the party is not serious about its constitution. If they really want their constitution to be properly understood and followed, then they should initiate a proper debate in their party about the constitution which involves all party members right down to the low level party workers. Then they should make sure that the constitution is properly put into practise. When that happens, anyone joining the party would naturally have to understand the constitution in order to function/succeed in the party. Right now, a few top leaders of the party call the shots and the constitution is nothing but a mere formality with little practical relevance, so noone has any reason to understand it.
The same is true of the manifestos. They all contest the elections on the basis of personality based slogans rather than manifestos. So why would anyone need to read the manifesto? Someone was telling me the other day that once BB herself was surprised and angry with her party lieutenants when she discovered that a certain point was in the party’s manifesto.
A test for party tickets may not be a totally bad idea, but it can be cleared by rote memorization of the manifesto and party constitution and then imediately forgotten afterwards.
Party tickets should be awarded through a process of intra-party elections within the relevant constituency. Parties may add some reasonable conditions for eligibility if they want, and that may include a test, but democratizing the process is the most important thing to do here. Party members in the constituency are in a best position to judge who is best suited to represent them. Such democratization will also open up opportunities for new people to rise in party ranks.
As for ensuring that the party candidates know the manifesto, the first thing is to make the manifestos relevant to the discourse on elections. The following article contains some suggestions in this regard:
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=43145
Once points 4-6 are put into practise, the candidates will be forced to take the manifestos more seriously and the voters will also have a better idea of where the different candidates stand.
But of course, these points are not meant to be a complete solution, a lot more is needed and this is why we need a national debate on such issues.
Does anyone rememeber the PPP party ticket scandal? In 2002 prior to the elections the PPP invited canidates who paid large sums to apply for MNA tickets. What happened to the money was never explained.
Anyway someone should dig out aitzaz ahsans report in 1998 of internal elections within the PPP. It was mentioned in a book on Punjab elections whose name i forget.
Speaking of awarding party tickets, for starters the people nominated by a political party to interview candidates for party tickets should have some creditability themselves. We are not talking about them being angels but basic crediatabilty. For instance, the Pakistan Muslim League( Nawaz) PML-N has constituted a two member team in the Frontier Province to inteview candidates for party tickets. Mr. Anwar Kamal Marwat is one of the dyad. Mr. Anwar Kamal Marwat on Dec 19th 2006 found mention in the Economist ..You can read the full story at http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8345531 but the excerpts are below :
For several years previously, the Marwat had been feuding with their neighbours, the Bhattani, another small Pushtun tribe. The tit-for-tat offences were quite piffling, said Mr Kamal—a spot of thieving or kidnapping of fighting-age males. Then some Bhattani hotheads abducted two Marwat girls; and Mr Kamal went Pushtun-postal. Leading an army of 4,000 Marwat fighters, equipped with artillery, he levelled a Bhattani town, killing 80 people, including the two unlucky, but nonetheless dishonoured, girls. Neither the bloodletting, nor the jirga that followed it (which stung Mr Kamal and his tribe for $60,000), seem even to have been mentioned in the Pakistani press.
Asked whether he saw any contradiction in a senior lawmaker instigating such extreme violence, Mr Kamal appeared astonished. “Well, we don’t claim this is something to be proud of,” he stuttered. “But it is a question of prestige, you see, a question of honour.”
Abit more on PML-N. Lets see how their constitution makes a mockery of democracy. Check their party constitution at
http://www.pmln.org.pk/constitution.php
Clause 44 is as follows:
“44. The Working Committee of Pakistan Muslim League shall consist of not less than 15 and not more than 40 members. It shall be nominated by the President from among the members of the Pakistan Muslim League Council. The President shall nominate at least 12 members of the Working Committee within 30 days of his election. He shall have the power to expand, reshuffle or reconstitute the Working Committee or replace any particular member thereof whenever he deems necessary.”
This central working committee is the main executive body of the party. For its functions and vast powers you can check clauses 50 and 51 on the above link. It is the central working committee which decides the party tickets.
This way of appointing the central working committee at the sole discression of the president makes a mockery of democracy and reminds one of the kichen cabinet.
A genuinely democratic method would have been to adopt one of the following methods or a combination of the two:
1. Have the Muslim league council decide the number of members on the central working committee and then elect all of them.
2. The president should nominate the members, but they should require the approval of the PML council, similar to the process in the US where appointments by the president are approved by the legislatures.
(by a combination of the two, I mean, some seats could be decided according to point 1 and the others through no 2)
We are reading reports of politicians switching parties or negotiating such a change almost daily these days. They will also get party tickets in the new party without any trouble. I wonder, if tickets were being awarded through intra-party elections within the constituency, would it be as easy for turn coats to survive.
Here is a latest news report:
Three ministers in secret contact with PPP
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=9332
what do you people think of drafting a resolution , getting signatures on it from our readers and then having us send it to the political leaders, copies to the media ( domestic and international) as well as the e-groups etc declaring that citizens demand to know how party tickets are being awarded etc?
Utopia is more befitting.
Still a long way to classify as political parties in the business of politics. Perhaps Stock exchange and trading is the right expression…. On second thought they have a code of conduct and ethics? humnnn…
More on the party tickets is that the PPPP committee that is short listing candidates and reviewing their applications …. the members of that committee all have awarded a ticket each to their children!
Good idea individual. The resolution should stress the importance of making the process democratic (by involving party workers) and transparent.
Aqil! Would you like to draft the resolution? Other friends can comment on it….finalize it and then we’ll send it out to the leaders as well as mobilize our media contacts to build up pressure.