The Determinants of Intra-Party Elections in Pakistan: A Study of Major Political Parties

Abstract

The article covers the need and importance of intra-party elections in Pakistan. It is an essential mode to observe internal democracy in a political party and a gateway to promote ordinary members from bottom to top in leadership position. Intra-party democracy played key role in the production of new leadership from the grass-roots level. The intra-party democracy is significant for the stability of a political system. It also engaged the party members to defend and explain the party policies in the right way. Hence, intra-party democracy provides a leading role to all registered members to participate directly or indirectly in the process of decision making. In Pakistan, political parties and state politics revolve around personalities and some monastic families. Even mainstream political parties of Pakistan avoided intra-party elections and leading leadership comes from the top through direct nomination. In this way all the portfolios within the parties are conformed. This paper further explores that what are the challenges faced by a real and authentic intra-party elections in Pakistani political parties and why political parties avoided an intra-party election. The study concludes that in practice the grass-roots members of political parties are ignored in all crucial decisions making within the party.