Who can contest elections?

If we do not challenge undemocratic nominations, political parties will remain dynastic, resembling a family business.

Theoretically, every citizen of Pakistan can contest elections. That is also true of other polities where the public forms governments through voting. Naturally, all citizens are equal in rights but they are not equal in wealth, competence, education and social significance. Individuals with some of these qualities usually contest elections. Perhaps, more than wealth and education, in Pakistan, what matters for political ambitions to be achieved is a comfortable social base or political constituency. Ethnic and religious groups, tribes, sub-tribes and castes constitute large voting blocs in constituencies. Only members from dominant castes and tribes can aspire to be candidates. In ethnically divided cities and towns, candidacy is usually held by influential members of ethnic groups. Charismatic party leaders with a national following may not face any barriers.

With the emergence of political parties, though weak, candidates with even stronger social bases have to wear a party tag or label to contest elections. In other words, he or she must get the nomination of a party. In the last few days, we have seen thousands of hopeful candidates filing applications with political parties to nominate them in constituencies of their choice. How do parties nominate candidates in Pakistan? It is a simple process. Each party with a strong hold over the party apparatus and all layers of its organisational hierarchy establishes parliamentary boards. The top party boss — usually a family patriarch heading the party — nominates his trusted cronies, actually yes-men, to the boards. This makes the parliamentary boards dependent on the “great leader”, as they have little choice in selecting candidates except offering their advice and making recommendation that can be turned down or upheld, depending on the view from the top man.

The nomination process, through this system, opens up all avenues of corruption. It starts when the party bosses ask for “donations” to the party fund. The process is far more corrupt when it comes to the nomination for senate seats for which the electoral college is the provincial assembly that elects candidates on a proportional basis. In the past, candidates without any political credentials or even past affiliation with the political parties have become senators after making massive “donations” to the party fund. In our political culture, with its weak institutions of accountability, such “donations” are investments and not expenditures.

Not all nominations for senate or assembly seats at the provincial or national level are made in exchange for “donations”. For the assemblies, parties actually favour candidates who have a strong enough social base in a constituency to win. They hardly bother about character, integrity, competence or experience. Can he win is the question, and if the answer is yes, he or she is the candidate. Most of these candidates are not raw hands. They have worked very hard in a competing political environment in the constituency to get attention and rise high in the estimation of the political parties. Just being a member of a caste or owning land is not going to make any candidate a winning horse. What matters is service to the community. It has created a demand-response nexus at the constituency level.

No matter what the personal merit and strength of each candidate, the nomination process is not democratic. In established democracies, the electorate in a constituency have the right to nominate candidates for any public office. In Britain and the United States, people do it by voting through a system called primaries.

I understand our social and political realities are different and our democratic practices, norms and institutions are weak. As building democracy requires conscious measures, constructive ideas and political education, we must challenge undemocratic practices of the “democratic forces” — the nominations. Without internal democracy, political parties will remain dynastic, resembling a family business.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2013.