After Elections, What?

Are political parties in Pakistan mature enough and ready to follow the accepted democratic norms to bring about a perceptible change in the national complexion, post-Elections 2008, asks Mehmood Sham

In states where democratic institutions have been strong for centuries, political parties put their democratic mechanisms in motion with the onset of the election year. This movement begins from the lowest level onwards. In the U.S., the process is known as ‘primaries’ whereas it has been given other names in the UK and France. During this process a political party starts to mobilize its workers in every part of the country at both city and district level. This is done firstly to get the party’s central command arranged so as to get updates about the processes being done on every level. Secondly, workers get a chance to inform about the domestic trends of public whereas the central command updates workers about international events in light of the party’s viewpoint.

The process begins by having conventions at each level and as the activists continue to accumulate, they are given posts in the party and then are given a chance to rise to the provincial level. In the end, these workers rise from the lowest levels to reach the national conventions to become a part of the electoral process and in the same way, national leaders are also elected. This collective and combined practice really rinses and purifies the party and its leadership as per the wants and desires of the people, as sometimes it revolutionize the party’s leadership or their way of thinking about political, economic, educational and social matters, including domestic and foreign affairs as well as law and order enforcement. What should be the course of the party and what direction it should be headed in are decided by the votes of low level workers. Leaders, who are popular, may be rejected in favour of others who show the capability to lead in sync with the need of the day. 

In parliamentary democracies, this process takes at least six to seven months. The process also makes it clear that in case of an electoral victory, who will take up the post of Prime Minister as ministerial posts for Treasury, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Commerce, Education Minister and other key subjects. Countries following the Presidential system of democracy not only declare the person who would be take the post of President after wining elections but also decide the key policies to be followed by the succeeding government.

This applies to countries where all basic problems were solved years ago and where the common man is protected by the judiciary and all the work of the government departments is governed by strict constitutional boundaries of people’s welfare. Yet, elections are scheduled on time and, above all, the whole process of campaigning and balloting is taken very seriously. Party manifestos are prepared and, instead of getting carried away with the election fervour, clear agenda are drafted for execution rather than the belief that the removal of the current government will cure all evils.

In Pakistan where democracy is still in its infancy and remains weak, it is all the more necessary to pay attention to and take every stage of this activity seriously. Since the first elections in 1951, to the decisive elections in 1970 to 1977’s destructive elections and the frequently occurring elections since 1980, no political party has carried out this exercise.

Despite the fact that Pakistan’s basic democratic institutions are very weak and problems at the national and international levels continue to persist, no political party gave the chance to their workers to elect their leaders who have abilities to solve the country’s problems. We as a nation are very keen on choosing a new President for our country, but not a single political worker is permitted even to think about changing the Party’s leader. Some parties have been led with a single president forever while others have their leadership distributed amongst brothers or transferred like family heritage.

In 60 years, companies and other corporate institutions have changed their CEOs and Directors several times in order to improve their business and profitability and are willing to select anyone who has the potential to do so. The recruitment processes have been made lengthy and rigorous, all expenses barred, to ensure that the right candidate is appointed and company objectives are achieved. Unfortunately, there is no such tradition in the political circles of Pakistan even though in this institution, the selected individual decides the fate of millions. Running a country successfully is a job of great responsibility but it is sad to note that there is no practice of inducting trained personnel in our political societies.

During elections, political parties blame authorities for engineering and fabricating the results, yet parties choose their leadership by nominations or without competition. The Chief Justice, Chief of Army staff, Prime Minister, Auditor General, Chief Election Commissioner and other significant posts have conditions and age and time limits but our political parties have no barrier or limit when it comes to internal leadership. Today, every post is awarded on the basis of eligibility, special training, aptitude or qualification but the formulation of polices that are to impact a hundred million people require no specialization and expertise. Key posts are ‘awarded’ to party favourites in royal fashion.

In many parliamentary democracies, political parties form their own committees of Revenue, Trade, Education, Communication and so on, headed by experts from the same fields and having the abilities to run a whole department. There are alternate or "waiting" governments who also keep an eye on current affairs to make their policies with appropriate amendments. The chiefs of these committees are ministers-in-waiting, who know their respective fields. The electoral success of these principal heads becomes the responsibility of the Party, which assists them through all means, including funds, if required. When the party wins the elections, it has a whole cabinet at its disposal with relevant experts who understand state affairs and the challenges in store. Since these experts also present their recommendations from time to time, the party does not need to give in to anyone or bargain or be dependent on the civil or military bureaucracy due to lack of capable personnel in its own wings. Details such as who will be the party’s press representative and official spokesperson for television interviews, etc. are also decided in advance.

Though the present government in Pakistan came into being as a result of an accident, but it did appoint experts to look after the economy and they implemented certain economic reforms that have stabilized the structural outlook. There are some experts with 5 years experience of presidentship while some have 8 years experience as economic experts but for other fields there is no expert, though several political parties arrange conventions in various parts of the country on diverse topics. This does not mean that these parties have experts in such related fields and nobody knows whether their supreme leader’s statements on important international issues are in line with their workers’ thinking or not. Whether to deal with the present government or to oppose it is a question that no party cares to ask its workers. It is only a single person, the supreme leader of the party, who decides about these most important issues. As Pakistan faces many challenges these days, it is a need of the time that the country’s political parties take the opinions of their workers on the following key issues:

These are some initial questions that must be addressed seriously by all political parties and the views of their political workers should be known. Though feudalism is not an urgent matter but parties should have a clear view about it. As it is, no political party has a clear-cut popularity in all parts of the country. Therefore, all parties have to collaborate with local parties to form the government at the centre. This is a dangerous proposition in Pakistan as each party comes to be dictated by its allied parties.

Pakistani political parties also have a history of looking towards the military for a change in government. Now they have started looking at the Supreme Court for this but none of the parties are willing to change themselves. There is now not much time left to ponder about these aspects. No one can tell what the complexion of the caretaker government will be, who will form the government after the elections and whether there will be any real democracy in future? In real democracies, anyone can predict such things at least five months before elections.

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