Session 12: Flaws in parties and party system

Party system is meant to encourage the active participation of people in political matters and generating policies in interest of general public. However, in our country each party belongs to a particular class, sect or the section of the society e.g. PML (N) ruled by the businessmen, PPP belongs to landlords and MQM protect the interest of emigrants. So, all their policies either benefits or safeguards the interests of a particular section.

Power is centralized in the hands of party leaders so most of the policies and programs are based on individual beliefs rather than a collective effort. Even the 14^th amendment of constitution legitimized the power of party leader by giving him authority to dismiss legislators who failed to vote as directed.

One of the objective of party system is to promote healthy political culture and to neutralize the power of ruling party. However, political parties form coalition with governing body in return of explicit and implicit benefits. Thus it hinders the healthy completion in assemblies and transfers the whole authority to ruling party.

 Lastly, political parties and party system developed in such a way that it promotes elite recruitment and formation. Party members’ selection is strongly influenced by capital and status of individuals and election tickets are mostly given on the basis of wealth and ability to spend on the election campaigns.