How transparent are intra-party elections in political parties?
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00:00 The Pakistan Election Commission has given instructions to the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf to hold intraparty elections within 20 days.
00:07 The decision has been made that if this does not happen, then there is a warning that the flag of the election of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf can be taken back.
00:19 The decision states that the party officeholders will be elected for four years as per the 2017 party law.
00:30 The period of the officeholders of the PTI ended on June 13, 2021.
00:34 The PTI was given a year due to the corona virus in 2019.
00:39 On May 24, 2021, the Election Commission sent a notice to remind the intraparty elections.
00:45 The Tehrik-e-Insaf has failed to hold transparent intraparty elections.
00:50 According to the notice issued by the show, the Tehrik-e-Insaf has not held intraparty elections as per the party law of 2022.
00:59 The PTI took a stand on the objections of the Election Commission that in June 2022, the intraparty elections were held according to the party law of 2019.
01:10 After the intraparty elections, the PTI was reinstated in the party constitution in 2022.
01:17 The party lawyer, Barrister Gauhar, has adopted the position that the party constitution has been reinstated and a new certificate has been submitted to the Election Commission.
01:27 The bench, consisting of four members of the Election Commission, did not agree with this certificate and the PTI elections have been declared invalid.
01:38 The situation is that the PTI has 20 days to hold the elections.
01:45 The leadership of the PTI is underground, some people are under arrest, the party chairman is in jail.
01:51 No organizational structure is visible at the moment.
01:55 This is why Hamid Khan said that it is almost impossible to hold elections on such short notice.
02:01 What did the Tehrik-e-Insaf lawyer say?
02:04 The difficulty is that our party leadership is in jail and some party leadership is forced to be underground.
02:16 Our workers who are part of our National Council are also in jail or underground.
02:27 It is very difficult to hold an intraparty election in these conditions.
02:32 Technically, it is difficult and it is not visible from the possible means.
02:38 Will the Tehrik-e-Insaf not have the bulletproof vest?
02:44 The problem in Pakistan is that the election process in all political parties is very shady and impure.
02:52 There is no competition there.
02:55 Let's quickly look at the situation in the political parties of Pakistan.
03:02 Let's start with the Tehrik-e-Insaf intraparty elections.
03:06 In June 2022, Tehrik-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan was elected.
03:11 He is elected as the chairman of the PTI without any competition.
03:14 It would be better if there was a candidate in front of him, but there should be a pretence that there is an election in a transparent democratic way.
03:25 In the intraparty election, Shah Mehmood Qureshi was also elected as the vice chairman of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf without any competition.
03:31 There is no candidate in front of him and this is the situation of other parties.
03:35 If we talk about the intraparty elections of the Noon League,
03:38 On June 16, 2023, Nawaz Sharif was appointed as the party's constitutional leader.
03:44 The constitutional leaders of the party are the ones who are elected on the other small positions.
03:51 But they are also elected without competition.
03:53 In this way, Mr. Shahbaz was also elected as the president of the Noon League without any competition.
03:57 There was no candidate in front of him, nor was there any attempt to give an impression of democracy.
04:04 This is not the case in the political parties of Pakistan.
04:08 Marim Nawaz Sharif was also elected as the chief organizer of the Noon League without any competition.
04:12 While Ishaq Darsah was elected as the secretary-general without any competition.
04:15 Are these people not popular in their party? Of course they are.
04:18 If there was a candidate in front of them, would they not have been elected? Of course they would have been.
04:22 But still, no candidate is presented as a presentation.
04:25 If we look at the intraparty elections of the People's Party,
04:28 In January 2021, Bilawal Bhutto was elected as the chairman of the Pakistan People's Party without any competition.
04:35 The trend is the same. There will be no candidate in front of him.
04:37 The entire election will be held without any competition.
04:39 The second party, headed by Asif Ali Zardari, was elected in January 2021.
04:46 The Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian was also elected as the president without any competition.
04:53 This is the situation of the democratic process in the major parties of Pakistan.
04:58 There is one party, which is a little different.
05:01 The culture of the Islamist party's intraparty elections is the strongest and strongest.
05:05 In the last 20 years, the same leadership, same electors, same party's running in the hands of the people.
05:13 The Islamist party is the only political party, of which three Ameers have come in the last 20 years.
05:19 Overall, we see that Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Saeed Munawar Hassan, Siraj-ul-Haq have been elected again.
05:27 They have become Ameers for five years in 2019.
05:29 So, the Islamist party has a healthy political culture of intraparty elections.
05:34 Why is this? Can this situation change in the future or not?
05:39 We will discuss the backdrop and its futuristic prospects.
05:43 We have Majid Nizami, senior advisor.
05:46 He has a deep insight into the constitutional and constitutional politics of Pakistan.
05:52 He is coming to our show for the first time. Thank you very much, Majid, for joining us.
05:55 We have Musarrat Kadeem, chairman of Fafn.
05:59 Musarrat Sahiba, if I start with you, Pakistan Tariq Insaaf will have to hold the elections in 20 days.
06:06 Is this technically possible?
06:08 Because, first of all, he has declared a need for a new election. But, is it technically, administratively, politically possible to hold the elections in 20 days?
06:19 Assalam-o-Alaikum. Thank you very much.
06:24 I think that the way political parties in Pakistan do not hold elections, but nominations,
06:32 then it is possible. You have presented a summary of what our political parties do in the name of elections.
06:44 If the same procedure is adopted by this party, that it nominates and completes the nomination process in 20 days,
06:54 I don't think that they will face any difficulty.
06:59 But, I just want to say that I think that a very fair method should be adopted in this, otherwise.
07:08 Because of this, as you said, a hereditary politics does not come into competition.
07:16 And, you have given an example of the Islamic Jamaat.
07:20 If you look closely at the Islamic Jamaat, you will see that the situation is almost the same.
07:29 They just have their elections and their candidates.
07:33 You said that the popularity of Nawaz Sharif or Imran Khan cannot be challenged.
07:39 If there is another candidate, no one will vote for him.
07:43 So, I think that we should think a little bit about the nomination process, not the election process.