LAHORE: After 15 years of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s inception, its founding chairman, Imran Khan, wants to hold intra-party elections from the union level, right up to the highest level in the organisation.
I remember when he launched the PTI. At that time, membership forms , along with his photograph, were published in national newspapers and about 20,000 Pakistanis applied for the membership but no intra-party elections were held. After the October 30, 2011, PTI rally in Lahore, a number of tested, old politicians from the PML-N, the PML-Q and the PPP joined the PTI as they were not happy in their respective parties.
In Pakistan’s present political system, there exists a constituency-based selection of a person by that particular constituency’s voters. This system allows many political families to strengthen their hold in the constituency, particularly in rural areas where illiteracy and poverty is rampant.
I suggest that instead of holding an internal party election, the PTI should analyse the data of the between seven-to-nine million new members the party says have applied via SMS for membership. Their constituencies should be examined so that the party can ascertain how many solid votes it has in a particular constituency.
Those who wish to contest elections for posts of MNA or MPA should be selected by the PTI members of the respective National Assembly or provincial assembly constituency. Furthermore, those who do not want to stand for public office should then be considered only for party positions. This will not only strengthen the party, allowing it to become a strong political institution, but also enable those who hold public office from not having the burden of holding a dual position within the party.
The prime responsibility and objective of a political party is not only to be elected to power to rule but also to produce competent politicians for the future. At present, most mainstream parties are surviving because of dynastic politics and there is hardly any chance for new leadership to replace them.
ST Hussain
Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2012.
