A democratic tradition

Better late than never

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) is a party that is normally associated with youth and new ideas. From its slogans of clean politics to finding the candidates that are dubbed as electables, party has at least proven to be steadfast in introducing relatively transparent and democratic methods of politics. One such venture that it undertook was holding the intra-party elections. While the practice is nothing new, the way it has been undertaken is surely something that other parties should aspire to, if not follow it.

The PTI imported an electronic system that pegged national identity card number of every one of its members to their cell phone numbers, and allowed them to cast their votes over the phone, landline, or through SMS, besides physical polling booths at places. The whole exercise was largely a success, there were some situations that were unexpected, though this being a new system of polls, they were not that unexpected. What little hassle the voters had to face came from logistics. Landline and cell phones were jammed either intentionally or unintentionally. Moreover, some other technical issues were also witnessed, like handling ballot boxes, marking a vote by ticking an option instead of putting a stamp over a candidate’s name, and too many candidates for one post at places, leading many to render their votes useless by marking against two candidates.

This open and transparent exercise also allowed some to succeed who would never have thought of it. A farmer won against a landlord in Attock district while a tailor and snack vendor were elected in Kohat. This in no way represents the entire picture though as in many areas people with influence still managed to overrun the ones with limited resources or even those who had worked for the party ever since its inception. But that is the virtue of democracy; everyone has an equal chance. Another lesson that this exercise teaches the political class is that there are bound to be kinks in every plan, but instead of being impatient and calling democracy a failed system, they must give it time to evolve and iron out its kinks.

As PTI took its time in holding its first ever intra-party elections, it lost the momentum it had gained by the end of 2011, right after its two mammoth political gatherings at Lahore and Karachi. However, as both PPP and PML-N haven’t done anything like that, the former silently ignoring the issue while the latter saying that they prefer to select candidates instead of electing them and that they cannot afford to give leadership to any John Doe, what PTI has achieved deserves kudos, and a follow up by other parties.