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Democracy in party leadership

25 June 2006, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Ekram Belal, Look-East Club
25 June 2006, 18:00 PM
The party leader should be elected democratically. If one individual remains the leader of a major political party for 10/20 years, then it is not democracy at the party level. How can we expect these leaders to honour the verdict of the people. Let's take a look at the last two presidential elections in the United States. In the 2000 election Republican nominee George W Bush narrowly won in Florida and in 2004 again Bush won in Ohio narrowly. The 2000 election was very controversial and the Supreme Court stepped in to settle it. We need to separate the judiciary from the executive branch for check and balance.

Let's take three major democracies-- the United States, India and United Kingdom. The Democratic Party, the BJP and the Conservative Party lost the elections but they all went back to people's house of representatives to take the responsibility of opposition. The role of opposition is as important as the party in power. The opposition plays a constructive role and contribute to passing laws. You hardly see them on the streets. By the way, there is no leader in the Democratic Party, the BJP or the Conservative Party who has been there for 10/20 years. The leaders make room for the new generation of leaders.

In all the three democracies leaders have to be above corruption; otherwise they will never be elected.

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We need new leaders who can think globally and act locally. This is the time of globalisation. The playing field is becoming very level. Two examples are cell phone technology and Internet technology; poor nations are at par with rich nations.

If we are missing the boat again we will fall behind. Get on the boat before it leaves the port. Look East, learn and act.