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Total Commitment Needs Full Participation

Democracy can never be meaningful without full participation of all the peoples within a democratic unit, i.e. constituency. Ways and means have to be found to ensure that most of the population gets involved, at least in the lowest tiers, or what is now commonly called the grassroots level. Among the registered voters in Pakistan there is a 54% men-46% women ratio even though the present population count says the ratio is 48% men-52% women. The number of seats that are taken up by women in every tier of democratic participation is not only negligible, it is almost non-existent. That is a non-starter for democracy. The National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) has proposed that there may be an equal number of seats upto the District Assembly, one feels it would be almost impossible to find credible women candidates to stand upto the electoral test for several years yet unless we use “force-feed” methods. For the purpose of giving women an equal voice in our democracy one proposes that we use the “running mate” formula not only at the grassroots level but up the tiers right upto the Senate. The formula is simple, if a male candidate stands for election, he will have with him as a running mate a woman, and vice versa if a woman is the candidate she will have a male as the “running mate”. Of course there has to be some pre-qualification for such candidates. Both men and women can compete on equal footing, the “coattail effect” will ensure that both the sexes will have equal number of seats on the Councils or the Assemblies. It has to be accepted that such a system will favour women deliberately so as to obtain equal participation by (and for) them, a must for meaningful democracy.

Democracy means effective governance from the grassroots level to the uppermost tier by representatives of the people elected by the people in a fair and transparent process that is all inclusive, i.e. it tries to accommodate every segment of the population and unify them though the electoral process. This verification will cut through ethnicity, sects, caste, etc. One of the best decisions taken so far is to have elections on a run-off basis i.e. the winning candidate must get 50% or more votes in the first round or there will be a second round between those two who got the maximum votes in the first round to establish the outright winner. Those voting thus have a clear choice, concurrently this breeds homogeneity since a coalition of interests must unite to either (1) elect a candidate in a positive display of their strength or (2) by a negative show of their preference they band together to keep a candidate they do not want out of the electoral process. Run-off elections encourage unity in an indirect method. Self-interest cuts against the ambitions of “special interest groups” who band together with different groups for a common purpose even though their views otherwise may be in divergence. In other words those with interests more common to each other will cause together out of a common cause.

What are the tiers of governance? The Police Station is the smallest constituency at the lower end of the political tier. A number of Police Stations then makes up Union and a number of Unions a District, a number of Districts a Division and a number of Divisions a Province. With the aspirant representatives of every Police Station (the elected candidates i.e. the person and his/her running mate) elected on a direct run-off election basis, the elected representatives or teams of all Police Stations within a particular Union would make up the Union Council. For the District Council all the Union members elected to the Council are eligible for standing for elections, again on a slate basis i.e. the first 20 Union Council member teams (one male and one female candidate making a team) who get the maximum number of votes in the elections will make up the District Council. Similarly the District Council members from each District will be elected by the first 20 member teams getting the maximum votes. From the District Council, the first 20 member teams will be the Divisional Assembly. The Union Council (UC) Chairman and Deputy Chairman and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the District Council (DC) are then elected on running mate/run-off basis from the among UC members and the DC members respectively. The same proviso would apply, that if a male is running for Chairman, his running mate will be female and vice versa. The lowest tier of any Assembly should be the Division.

Total participation is meant to ensure a definite linkage between the duly elected persons exercising the authority in a constituency and the same persons representing the interests of that constituency in any representative forum. The Chairman and Deputy Chairman of a Union Council exercise authority in a Union and as well take part in the Divisional Assembly. That is essential to good governance, a teeth-to-tail linkage. Assemblies must be formed at higher level than the District viz (1) the Divisional Assembly (2) the Provincial Assembly (3) the National Assembly and (4) the Senate. As stated the Members of the Union Council becomes members of the Divisional Assembly, the members of the District Council become members of the Provincial Assembly. The Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the District Council becomes Members of the National Assembly. Anyone belonging to the Divisional Assemblies upwards can run for Senate, again on “running mate/run-off” basis and again on a slate pattern i.e. the first three candidates from each Division get elected. A second round of elections must be held to determine the number of votes each person in the slate of three is getting. The person getting the maximum number is to be called the Senior Senator for the Division in the Senate, it is in him or her that the constituent here exercise maximum faith. In the second round of elections there will also be voting for a “Technocrats” list duly approved by the Divisional Assembly, to elect one Technocrat Senator to represent each Division.

Since there are 105 Districts in Pakistan presently (Punjab 34, NWFP 24, Sindh 21 and Balochistan 26) there will be 210 MNAs plus 4 MNAs, 2 each representing Islamabad Capital Territory and the Federally Administrated Area in Karachi i.e. a total of 214. With 14 MNAs from the 7 Districts of FATA the number goes up to 228. Along with a 100 MNAs taken on proportional representation, (with at least 20 MNAs seats reserved for minorities) the number will go up to 328 MNAs. Since there are 27 Divisions (including FATA i.e. Punjab 8, NWFP 7, Sindh 5 and Balochistan 6) and the two Federal Areas making it 29, the number of Senators will be 108. Punjab will have 32 Senators and 68 MNAs, NWFP 28 Senators and 48 MNAs, Sindh 20 Senators and 42 MNAs and Balochistan 24 Senators and 52 MNAs. FATA will have 2 Senators and 14 MNAs.

Nobody should be allowed to stand for election for President, Prime Minister, Chief Minster, etc unless he or she is a member of the Divisional, Provincial, National Assemblies and the Senate. All elections except for within the Assemblies and Councils e.g. Speaker, Deputy Speaker, etc will be on a direct basis with run-off and running-mate as a necessary ingredient. The elections will be a gruelling process but it will ensure commitment by the politicians of both the sexes to the whole electoral process from the basic grassroots level providing a positive linkage to the higher tiers of governance. That is the only way to ensure the total and meaningful participation that is the essence of democracy.

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