January 13; One important factor that impacts the overall quality of democracy is the quality of democracy within the political parties. The parties are the building blocks of a democratic structure. If parties become subservient to one or a few individuals and decisions on behalf of the party are taken in an un-democratic manner without involving the decision-making structures within the party in any meaningful way, democratic system of the country becomes hostage to a few individuals. As a result, institutions such as parliament are robbed off their character of an effective forum of meaningful consultation and an important instrument of oversight. In essence, a democratic system without democratic political parties leads to an autocratic system under a democratic guise.
It is, therefore, important that democracy within political parties be valued and promoted. The exercise to assess the quality of democracy of major political parties of Pakistan is an effort to promote intra-party democracy. PILDAT has earlier produced three such yearly reports (2014, 2015 and 2016) and issued monthly monitors assessing and analysing the quality of democracy within political parties and how it impacts overall quality of democracy in the country.
This Monitor covers the duration of August 2018-August 2019 along with some recent important events relevant to the state of democracy within the major political parties of Pakistan and the extent to which parties need to be internally democratic in order to promote democracy within the wider society.
PILDAT had earlier developed a framework for assessment of quality of internal democracy of political parties of Pakistan. Using that framework and holding consultations with key persons knowledgeable on the subject, this Monitor has been compiled.
Please find the Monitors in both English and Urdu languages below:
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