Democratic spirit

It is an inherent contradiction in our democracy that the very political parties who should be upholding and strengthening the system do not practise real democracy within their own parties. Political parties are treated as personal fiefdoms, passed down from generation to generation with no internal dissent permitted. A recent report by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) ranked the major parties and the level of internal democracy they permit. Somewhat surprisingly, the PML-N and the PPP – the two parties who have had governments overthrown by the military and who should recognise the value of strengthening democracy both inside and outside their parties – ranked at the bottom of the list. The PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami, both of whom are considered close to the undemocratic establishment, came out on top. The report used 13 different measures to assess the level of internal democracy, including the strength of party constitution, regularity of leadership elections and core committee meetings, participation of women and minorities and transparency in funding. The PPP and PML-N, as we all know, are family-controlled parties where outside voices are rarely permitted. The handing out of tickets for elections is often done on the basis of money and connections. The thought of either the Zardari-Bhutto or Sharif monopoly being contested is simply unthinkable.
The JI, on the other hand, recently had a hard-fought leadership election with the incumbent Syed Munawar Hasan being defeated by Sirajul Haq. It would be unthinkable for the party leader to be replaced in this way, with all the registered members of the party voting throughout the country, in any other party. The PTI, meanwhile, scored high on the internal democracy metric because of the openness with which it handed out tickets for the 2012 elections and the regular elections it holds for party positions. It still can improve since Imran Khan does control most of the party but it, along with the JI and MQM, is less prone to the disease of nepotism than the other parties. The PTI’s fundraising process, particularly overseas, has also been slightly more open although in this measure every party tries to obscure its source of funding. Indeed it is widely known that one way parties raise money is by charging potential candidates exorbitant amounts for tickets in elections. The fact is that our democracy will remain weak as long as those who are its caretakers seem to hold so little of that democratic spirit themselves.