Intra-party democracy
The coming
councils are positive
developments in the
political landscape
of Bangladesh
According to media reports the two major political parties of the country Awami League (AL) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) are making massive preparations to hold their National Council sessions this March. Both the major political parties want to rejuvenate their party networks from top to bottom through their respective council sessions. We believe that this is indeed a positive development in the political landscape of Bangladesh. While these council sessions are supposed to be held on a triennial basis, for whatever reasons, this has not always been the case. Sometimes we have seen several terms have been lapsed and political observers believe that this is one of the reasons for the intra-party conflicts that erupt now and then. However as the saying goes it is always better late than never.
The councils, if held on a more regular basis, will not only be beneficial to the parties concerned but will bring about concrete gains to the country and democracy as a whole. One of the preconditions for democracy to flourish in a country is to have democracy practiced within the different political parties. As the people know, unfortunately in this country intra-party democracy is almost an alien concept in Bangladesh. The absence of intra-party democracy has contributed to some political parties becoming closed autocratic structures with increasing fragmentation within parties, selection of poor electoral representatives and at times abuse of financial power in elections. The roots of the most pertinent challenges faced by Bangladeshi politics today can be traced to the lack of intra-party democracy. The lack of intra-party democracy has also contributed to the growing nepotism in political parties.
Politics is inseparable from political parties as they are the prime instruments for the execution of democracy in the country. The selection of candidates, the mobilisation of the electorate, the formulation of agendas and the passing of legislation are all conducted through political parties. They are the only organisations in the country that seek, compete for, and acquire power over state apparatus, control over public funds, government bureaucracy and legislative mechanisms. It is therefore surprising how little has been done to strengthen the processes of
institutionalisation of intra-party democracy in political parties in Bangladeshi. It is imperative that political parties open their eyes to growing calls for electoral political reforms and take steps towards bringing in intra-party democracy.
We would like to believe that these two council sessions, to be held next month will bring a about a decisive change for the better in this regard.
