I.A. Rehman | Oct 27, 2016
THE apparent consensus among the major political parties against the democratic structuring of their organisations is one of the main reasons for people’s progressive alienation from democratic politics. It is also strengthening the trend towards an oligarchy of sorts. The political parties’ rejection of internal democracy has again been revealed by their failure to hold intra-party elections and the manner in which they are sometimes held, ie only to qualify for participation in the general election.
We may begin by taking note of two marked exceptions. The Jamaat-i-Islami has maintained its tradition of electing an emir every five years, and the Awami Workers Party has recently held what should be accepted as a fair election at a representative convention of members. The party now has a new team of president and secretary general. Of the other mainstream parties, the PPP is steadfastly avoiding organisational elections and the PTI chief has lost his enthusiasm for them as well as his tolerance for the party’s election chief if he has a mind of his own…