Internal party democracy

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Internal party democracy

I HAVE been raising a number of issues previously on my personal blog site, which I think all voters, political parties and candidates need to think about for the forthcoming elections.

One issue which has not been raised at all, is the question of internal party democracy.

In a recent interview on “4 The Record”, an aspiring political candidate and party leader stated that he saw the restoration of “democracy” as one of important objectives that would be included in his party’s elections manifesto.

When the talk show host asked the party leader to give his interpretation of the term “democracy”, the explanation was quite reasonable, described in the usual terms such as accountability of governments to voters for their decisions, including revenue collections through taxes and spending, and reporting to the public through annual Auditor General Reports.

But one aspect was missing from the discussion: what about the internal democracy of political parties?

This differs throughout the so-called “democratic” world.

I say “so-called” as even a cursory examination of the way democracy works in United States with the Democratic and Republican parties will give you very revealing answers to the questions below.

As also will a close examination of parties in Australia and NZ, our nearest developed neighbors, whose democratic party principles are generally strong, but also clearly contestable as close analysis of the Kevin Rudd/Julia Gillard/Kevin Rudd passage through circular swinging doors would indicate.

Fiji’s political parties are no less interesting.

In what aspects?

There are numerous aspects of internal political party democracy that voters can examine all the political parties for the relative influence of general party supporters, and that of shadowy manipulative men and women behind the scenes.

These are just some of the questions and tests that can be asked by voters and party supporters:

(a) How are your party leaders and position holders chosen?

(b) How are your candidates chosen?

(c) How are your policies chosen?

(d) How free are party supporters to question their leaders without fear of victimisation?

(e) How accountable are political parties to their supporters for their decisions?

(f) how accountable are political parties for the revenues that they raise from their supporters (obvious and hidden corporate types) and how they spend them?

(g) Is there a genuine succession plan so that should the party leader disappear, for whatever reasons, there is an obvious successor available, or at least a second tier of deputies, who can step into the breach?

Indeed nearly all the questions that one can ask of the accountability and transparency of governments, can be equally asked of the political parties and their leaders.

Voters who have some knowledge of Fiji’s previous political parties will know that most of them fail nearly all the tests posed by these questions.

Quite often, the party leader or a small often hidden group of trusted advisers, make all the decisions, which are handed down to the party supporters, “take it or leave it”.

Often there may even be annual general meetings which are orchestrated by those who control the party, giving a great facade of democracy, but the decisions are all made by a small elite, and often the great party leader.

Often, no one knows how much money has been raised and where the money has gone, with properly audited accounts as rare as hen’s teeth.

e.g. Who are the Genuine Deputies?

One can have long discussions about each of the questions above.

But one very obvious one that all voters can themselves apply today is (g): do party leaders have a genuine democratic succession plan and genuine “deputies”?

One can easily apply the above question to the political parties and governments led by Ratu Mara, Dr Bavadra (or was it really Jai Ram Reddy and Chaudhry behind him), Rabuka, Chaudhry, and lately Rear Admiral Bainimarama.

I suggest that it would be rare indeed to be able to find any with a definite succession plan, based on genuine democracy in the party and government.

Indeed the practice used to be quite the opposite.

Some leaders made sure that there were no second tier leaders who could possibly challenge them.

If any arose and showed signs of leadership, they were chopped off (one version of the “tall poppy” syndrome).

Deputies were often chosen deliberately because they had no independent support in the party, and were totally dependent on the leader for their position.

Some deputies and even symbolic presidents were chosen to give the appearance of “multi-racialism” and some even financed by the leader from shadowy slush funds to keep them in line.

Some party leaders harboured ambitions for their own children and some succeeded some did not, but not for lack of trying: like the Kennedy or Bush dynasties in United States, Nehru/Gandhis in India, Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore, the Kims of North Korea — and the list gets longer every years.

Often the departure of a selfish political leader left a terrible leadership vacuum and total chaos for years, until the next leader was somehow chosen.

So all voters can examine each of the political parties coming to them for votes and ask the questions (a) to (g) above: how internally democratic are they themselves internally?

* These are the views of Professor Wadan Narsey and not of The Fiji Times.

Professor Narsey was a parliamentarian from 1996 to 1999 after which he has had no political affiliations. He has stated to The Fiji Times that he is not aligned to any political party and he will not be standing for elections. He is contributing as an independent economist and educator, to the workshops of different parties when requested and available.

The views expressed in this article are published to encourage political debate and discussion as Fiji prepares for elections.

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