As a member of the Youth Parliament Pakistan, I along with my fellow parliamentary committee members were recently tasked to devise recommendations for the PML-N top leadership (essentially the PML-N president Muhammad Nawaz Sharif) on some of the issues highlighted by the party president in a mock letter to our committee.
One of the issues mentioned in the letter, which absorbed most of my attention lately, was about quality of the party candidates for the next general election.
What should be done in order to improve the quality of candidates? It was not a linear problem therefore a box-checking exercise was not going to work. Take a little time to let it sink in first.
In the absence of a clear organization and hierarchy within the party and a general disregard towards merit, it looks like there is a lot of work to do. And while we were at it, where do we start was quite a natural thing to ask.
The Youth Parliamentary Committee for PMLN worked on a number of recommendations.
In this regard, following are some highlights of the recommendations:
Intra-Party Elections
Intra-party election is the corner stone of democratic culture within a political party. And the fact that there is only a nominal or no culture of intra-party election in the PML-N is damaging at many levels. The latest PILDAT’s report on “Internal Democracy of Major Political Parties of Pakistan 2015”which declares PML-N least democratic of all the eight parties under study is simply shameful for PML-N.
On the basis of performance, there is not much for the party members to look forward to. And in their pursuit to get closer to the top party leadership (dominated by limited number of families and individuals) the only means left to them is by throwing in their finances to the party fund and be visible enough to be in the good books of the leadership. Broadly speaking, the central leadership of the party is dominated by a limited number of individuals of a family and the same model is replicated at the regional level across the country.
What should be done? Well to start with, the party has to do away with the yoke of dynastic politics and introduce a systematic design and organizational structure within the party so that the true leadership emerges and evolves step by step only on the basis of merit. Hierarchical structures within the party and intra-party election is the key. In this regard, it is recommended that intra-party elections should be held according to the party constitution, that is, every three years.
It is also recommended that the regular meetings of the constitutional bodies within the party should be held. Also the election of the party president should be held in a transparent manner. It is advisable that secret balloting should be used in order to elect the party president unlike the previous intra-party elections, held in 2006 and 2011.
Another recommendation in this regard is the devolution of the powers of the party president. Party president is so powerful a figure within the party that the next-in-line party office bearers (Chairman, Senior Vice Presidents and Vice Presidents) are practically rendered toothless. It is recommended that the powers of the president should be devolved in a just and transparent manner so that an effective second tier leadership emerges on the basis of their performance and be there to replace the first tier leadership when need be. Vacancy on the top and a vacuum down below in absence of a second tier leadership would create chaos and serious leadership crisis within the party.
Local Government Elections - Devolution of Power
Devolution of power and empowerment of a common man is the linchpin of democratic culture. Although local body elections have already taken place and there is a third tier of leadership available, sadly however the powers have not been devolved to the local representatives. Power centralization in the provincial capitals is a death knell to the spirit of the LG polls. If a chairman or a councilor does not even have powers to deliver on needs as basic as healthcare, education and security and people have to look up to Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar for the smallest of their problems, the local representatives would just be incapable, which renders LB polls a useless exercise. District level politics is the nursery of political leadership and the only way where a person with lesser means may have a chance to come into politics. Hypothetically speaking, if an educated, driven and politically motivated person someway makes his way to become a councilor or a chairman and does not have the requisite powers, he would be a failure as far as performance is concerned. His hands would be tied and he would not be able to make it to the next step of the ladder of leadership.
In this regard, PML-N being the ruling party in Punjab and the center has to realize greater responsibility on its part.
It is recommended that Article 140-A of the Constitution, which provides for the legal framework of local government elections, should be amended in order to make government time-bound to hold local government elections regularly.
Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the mentioned article, which provides for devolution of political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local governments, is vague in terms of the scope and limit of these powers. The powers to be devolved should be clearly specified by every province in their local government act(s).
It is pertinent to note that the party workers and leaders in general at all levels are not themselves aware of their manifesto and policies. It is recommended that regular workshops and training programs should be held in this regard.
Electoral Reforms
Electoral reforms are significant in order to purge political lot of the black sheep through stringent, transparent and a merit-based process. Plus it should serve as a mechanism to the educated youth who aspire to take part in the political processes and decision-making. To the detriment of improvement of quality of the candidates, the prevalent election procedures and the related financial limitations make it nearly impossible for a common man to take part in politics. For practical reasons, as it is said, those who want to take part in politics, have to be financially sound and influential enough to help a common man with their problems in courts, police stations, family feuds and the supply of basic services on their own. Politics is a very expensive gamble and way far from the reach of a common man. One should not be a lawmaker and a businessman at the same time. Business interests and lawmaking when overlap, make for a very dangerous mix.
Keeping in mind the disillusionment of a common person with the business of politics, following are some recommendations.
It is recommended that transparent and merit-based party ticket allocations should be ensured. In this regard, ideological party workers with limited financial means should not be neglected.
Also, following the principle of separation of powers, administrative party office-bearers should be barred from contesting general elections. Likewise, those electable party workers who contest in general elections should not hold any office within the party’s administration.
Finally it is recommended that in order to encourage and support new leadership, party should facilitate the neglected sections of the society to contest elections where there is a greater likelihood of winning-where there are more votes for the party and lesser votes for the individual contestant. In this vein, women, youth, religious minorities etc. should be encouraged. Also the nomination of women on reserved seats should be made in a just and transparent manner as well.