The modern political theory encourages emergence of professional politicians. They argue that the issues of modern societies are so complicated that only specialists can perform the research and arrive at the best possible solution for the community. In order to prevent chaos of divergent views in a parliament members are encouraged to form platforms among like minded members. These platforms over the years become political parties to allow arrival of consensus in legislative process. In most developed democracies number of parties is handful. For instance US political system is controlled by republican and democratic parties. Similarly in England governments are formed by two party system between Tory and Labor party. Similar two or three party system exists in most of the stable democracies of Turkey, Malaysia, Germany, France, South Korea. In countries where there are more than three parties the effectiveness of the democratic institutions diminishes because of lack of consensus among the legislature. There are many political theorists that question the effectiveness of party based political system but it is quite apparent that if it is adopted then small number of parties produces better results. There are many reasons for weak democratic institutions in Pakistan but it is probable that proliferation of large number of parties is one of the main reasons. Political divisions have been favored by military generals who have controlled the governments for over 40 years of the last 60 years of existence. The elections of 2008 are not much different. According to Election commission web site there are 49 parties contesting for national assembly seats. The question then arises is why do we have so many parties? And what can be done to remedy this situation?
The prime reason for large number of parties is the absence of national will, lack of provincial harmony and disagreement on future direction. Regional insecurity induces the constituents to elect candidates that can safeguard local interest at the cost of national consensus. This has resulted in the emergence of narrowly defined ethnic and sectarian parties like ANP, MQM, JUI, Balochistan National Party, etc. that attract vote by appealing to the local grievances and targeting the ethnic inequalities. The military establishment gives wind to these ethnic and sectarian sentiments to ensure a divided political structure which results in corruption and ineffectiveness producing mass frustration which eventually lead to military take over. On the other hand large parties with national manifestos are plagued by undemocratic practices. Individuals dominate the leadership roles with no expiration of terms. This is evident in PPP which is dominated by Benazir Bhutto as lifelong chairman. PML is dominated by Nawaz Sharif or Chaudhry family. It is quite natural for any politician to be ambitious with a desire to slowly rise to the top. When young aspiring leaders find it impossible to eventually lead their parties they are forced to break ranks and form their own break away factions. Sadly they do not learn from their own experience and adopt the same dictatorial practices in their own factions thereby repeating the cycle for further division. This situation has resulted in many factions of PPP into PPPP, PPP forward block, PPP Sherpao etc. In PML it has resulted in PML (Q), PML (N), PML functional etc. etc. Even sectarian parties like JUI have divided into JUI Niazi and JUI Fazl ur Rehman groups.
There are many ways to correct this divisive situation and embark on a journey of consolidation. First of all regulations for political parties need to be amended to ensure that there is succession of leadership in the ranks of party leadership. Constitution of party should be subservient to the constitution of the country. This means that there should be term limits for the top leadership of the party so that new leaders have a chance of rising to the top. Anyone nominated to contest a regional or national election should be barred from holding a party position to prevent conflict of interest. No party should be allowed to participate in the national assembly elections unless they can establish membership from all four provinces and demonstrate at least 15% votes in the last two elections. This will encourage rise of the national leadership with an eye towards development of the federation. Smaller regional parties should be allowed to form alliances with larger national parties to secure their voice in national policy and get some seats allocated to them from the alliance. Nomination of candidates should also be done through member’s votes rather than committee nominations. Selection of candidates through committees gives rise to personal power at the expense of party interests. Media outlets should be regulated to provide equal time to all candidates to ensure fairness and equal opportunity.
Running political campaigns is an expensive matter. Financial constraints prevent many good candidates to participate in elections. Like developed countries, campaign finance rules should be devised so that candidates can raise funds to finance their campaigns. Use of personal funds in elections should be restricted to a certain amount to prevent future profiteering from holding parliamentary positions. MQM has demonstrated its ability to raise funds from the middle classes. Although in the absence of good leadership it has more often resulted in extortion of money by party workers from industrialists and factories in Korangi and S.I.T.E area of Karachi. In developed countries candidates arrange fund raising dinners to not only speak to their constituents but raise funds for their campaigns.
We can not become a nation unless divisions are reduced from ethnic, sectarian and personal issues to national issues. Instead of forming a round table of politics with each party holding a small pie it is better to sit in a room with only two sides. Unless we reduce the political divisions and allow emergence of national leadership it is a pipe dream to hope that divisions will reduce on its own. Poverty stricken Balochistan and NWFP can not expect to send ethnic leaders with handful of seats to have a stronger voice for their rights in the national assembly. Instead if they could gain control of provincial governments and have substantial clout in a national alliance they could exert more influence to get resources for their provinces.
Voters also have to reject smaller parties and rally around larger parties to reduce the political divisions. All of us have an individual role to play in the upcoming elections. We can not just sit on the sidelines and expect politicians to sort out things for us. We have to get active and participate. The best way to participate is to cast your vote with an eye towards national reconciliation rather than narrow minded regional benefits. Let us reject sectarianism, ethnicity and religious extremism. Let us give majority mandate to national parties so they can not give us excuse later on for their ineffectiveness. Let us give a clear message to the military leadership that their meddling in politics is no longer welcome and it is not their job to run government. If they allow democracy to prevail it will eventually grow into maturity and enable good leadership to emerge to lead the nation.
All about Pakistan 
The politics of division
December 22, 2007 at 6:23 pm · Filed under Political Commentary
The modern political theory encourages emergence of professional politicians. They argue that the issues of modern societies are so complicated that only specialists can perform the research and arrive at the best possible solution for the community. In order to prevent chaos of divergent views in a parliament members are encouraged to form platforms among like minded members. These platforms over the years become political parties to allow arrival of consensus in legislative process. In most developed democracies number of parties is handful. For instance US political system is controlled by republican and democratic parties. Similarly in England governments are formed by two party system between Tory and Labor party. Similar two or three party system exists in most of the stable democracies of Turkey, Malaysia, Germany, France, South Korea. In countries where there are more than three parties the effectiveness of the democratic institutions diminishes because of lack of consensus among the legislature. There are many political theorists that question the effectiveness of party based political system but it is quite apparent that if it is adopted then small number of parties produces better results. There are many reasons for weak democratic institutions in Pakistan but it is probable that proliferation of large number of parties is one of the main reasons. Political divisions have been favored by military generals who have controlled the governments for over 40 years of the last 60 years of existence. The elections of 2008 are not much different. According to Election commission web site there are 49 parties contesting for national assembly seats. The question then arises is why do we have so many parties? And what can be done to remedy this situation?
The prime reason for large number of parties is the absence of national will, lack of provincial harmony and disagreement on future direction. Regional insecurity induces the constituents to elect candidates that can safeguard local interest at the cost of national consensus. This has resulted in the emergence of narrowly defined ethnic and sectarian parties like ANP, MQM, JUI, Balochistan National Party, etc. that attract vote by appealing to the local grievances and targeting the ethnic inequalities. The military establishment gives wind to these ethnic and sectarian sentiments to ensure a divided political structure which results in corruption and ineffectiveness producing mass frustration which eventually lead to military take over. On the other hand large parties with national manifestos are plagued by undemocratic practices. Individuals dominate the leadership roles with no expiration of terms. This is evident in PPP which is dominated by Benazir Bhutto as lifelong chairman. PML is dominated by Nawaz Sharif or Chaudhry family. It is quite natural for any politician to be ambitious with a desire to slowly rise to the top. When young aspiring leaders find it impossible to eventually lead their parties they are forced to break ranks and form their own break away factions. Sadly they do not learn from their own experience and adopt the same dictatorial practices in their own factions thereby repeating the cycle for further division. This situation has resulted in many factions of PPP into PPPP, PPP forward block, PPP Sherpao etc. In PML it has resulted in PML (Q), PML (N), PML functional etc. etc. Even sectarian parties like JUI have divided into JUI Niazi and JUI Fazl ur Rehman groups.
There are many ways to correct this divisive situation and embark on a journey of consolidation. First of all regulations for political parties need to be amended to ensure that there is succession of leadership in the ranks of party leadership. Constitution of party should be subservient to the constitution of the country. This means that there should be term limits for the top leadership of the party so that new leaders have a chance of rising to the top. Anyone nominated to contest a regional or national election should be barred from holding a party position to prevent conflict of interest. No party should be allowed to participate in the national assembly elections unless they can establish membership from all four provinces and demonstrate at least 15% votes in the last two elections. This will encourage rise of the national leadership with an eye towards development of the federation. Smaller regional parties should be allowed to form alliances with larger national parties to secure their voice in national policy and get some seats allocated to them from the alliance. Nomination of candidates should also be done through member’s votes rather than committee nominations. Selection of candidates through committees gives rise to personal power at the expense of party interests. Media outlets should be regulated to provide equal time to all candidates to ensure fairness and equal opportunity.
Running political campaigns is an expensive matter. Financial constraints prevent many good candidates to participate in elections. Like developed countries, campaign finance rules should be devised so that candidates can raise funds to finance their campaigns. Use of personal funds in elections should be restricted to a certain amount to prevent future profiteering from holding parliamentary positions. MQM has demonstrated its ability to raise funds from the middle classes. Although in the absence of good leadership it has more often resulted in extortion of money by party workers from industrialists and factories in Korangi and S.I.T.E area of Karachi. In developed countries candidates arrange fund raising dinners to not only speak to their constituents but raise funds for their campaigns.
We can not become a nation unless divisions are reduced from ethnic, sectarian and personal issues to national issues. Instead of forming a round table of politics with each party holding a small pie it is better to sit in a room with only two sides. Unless we reduce the political divisions and allow emergence of national leadership it is a pipe dream to hope that divisions will reduce on its own. Poverty stricken Balochistan and NWFP can not expect to send ethnic leaders with handful of seats to have a stronger voice for their rights in the national assembly. Instead if they could gain control of provincial governments and have substantial clout in a national alliance they could exert more influence to get resources for their provinces.
Voters also have to reject smaller parties and rally around larger parties to reduce the political divisions. All of us have an individual role to play in the upcoming elections. We can not just sit on the sidelines and expect politicians to sort out things for us. We have to get active and participate. The best way to participate is to cast your vote with an eye towards national reconciliation rather than narrow minded regional benefits. Let us reject sectarianism, ethnicity and religious extremism. Let us give majority mandate to national parties so they can not give us excuse later on for their ineffectiveness. Let us give a clear message to the military leadership that their meddling in politics is no longer welcome and it is not their job to run government. If they allow democracy to prevail it will eventually grow into maturity and enable good leadership to emerge to lead the nation.
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