Representation
A party responds to and expresses the views of its members
and voters. PTI has a wide voter base, especially among the youth and the
middle class families(even their children, who cannot vote yet).
Elite Formation and
Recruitment
Parties provide a training ground for politicians; skills,
experience, knowledge are all transferred to the members. Being in politics is
a time consuming and important job, it gives people career structure which
mainly depends on the success of the party. PTI was a relatively new party in
Pakistan compared to PML-N, PPP, Jamat-i-Islami etc, hence it worked very hard
to recruit new, admired, influential people. For instance, Asad Umar, ex Engro CEO, Sheikh
Rashid, ex railway minister, Shireen Mazari, ex PPP official.
Goal Formation
Every party comes into existence with a particular goal in
mind, each party works towards an issue and aims to eradicate it. However, with
'catch-all parties', the tendency towards de-ideologised parties is increasing.
Image and personality of the leaders are highlighted much more than the agendas
they will be working on. In PTI, not only does the followers of Imran Khan endorse
him but he does it himself too. Now there are other active members of PTI but
before the elections, PTI's entire campaign was dependent on Imran Khan. PTI
and Imran Khan are words which could be used interchangeably. Because he won
the world cup, the idea was he will somehow change Pakistan.
Interest Articulation
and Aggregation
When a society sets collective goals, it usually uses a
political party in voicing them. Sometimes it is the other way round, party
itself suggests some mandates or alterations in policies and the voter base goes
along with it. This was one major area where PTI supporters were unhappy. The
'dharna' strategy was a failure, first they requested the Prime Minister to
resign but that did not happen. Then they started asking for a judicial commission
but that also didn't happen and on top of that they don't even demand it
anymore. Now the 'dharna' is over and PTI supporters did not gain anything but
are out of money and time that will never be returned.
Socialization and Mobilization
"Political parties are important agents of political
education and socialization" as Heyword suggested. PTI spent a lot of
their efforts in encouraging people to vote and become aware of their rights,
especially during the election campaigns. Although, after the elections and
their defeat, they mobilized people to voice their view against injustice. New
form of 'dharna' was established in the capital of the country. For the first
time a leader encouraged peaceful protest in Pakistan.
Organization of Government
Parties help form the government, especially in a parliamentary
system where there are multiple parties operating. PTI did not win the maximum
seats in the national assembly, hence it became part of the opposition in general.
However, it does have the majority seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and hence are head of the provincial government.
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