PML-N elections

That Nawaz Sharif has been elected to continue as leader of the PML-N hardly qualifies as news. The party that he founded and which bears his name is hardly likely to throw up a leadership challenge. No ballot papers were printed for the meeting of the party’s senior leadership since the candidates for all party offices were elected unopposed. Whatever machinations might have taken place to fill these slots, like the last-minute decision not to appoint Sartaj Aziz, secretary-general of the party, happened behind the scenes, away from the public’s prying eye. Needless to say, parties that constantly preach democracy for the country should practise it themselves.

Let’s be honest and admit that even if the PML-N had inter-party elections, there is no way anyone would stand in an election against Nawaz Sharif. For the sake of appearances, it would have been preferable had someone else stood for the leadership, but the outcome would have been the same. The real problem comes in the selection of other leadership posts. Here, competition could be healthy for the party, allowing those who dissent from the leader to have their say in the running and policy of the party. Instead, the leadership is stacked with loyalists. Apart from being undemocratic, the closed selection process can be the undoing of a leader, as he is surrounded only by sycophants.

To be fair, political parties have become slightly more transparent. The PML-Q holds regular elections for party office as does the Jamaat-e-Islami, the later do not allow women to vote in intra-party elections. But the two largest political parties in the country, the PPP and PML-N, are run as personal fiefdoms that exist primarily to perpetuate political dynasties. When one’s bloodline is the primary qualification to be the leader of a party, it is bound to create friction with loyal party members who know they can no longer rise within the party. Were the Sharifs and Bhutto-Zardaris of the world willing to give up their dynasties for the sake of their party, perhaps we wouldn’t have an alphabet soup of political parties created by those who can only start a new party to fulfil their leadership ambitions.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2011.