Editorial
Eminent citizens speak out
Democratise the nomination process
We wholeheartedly support the several recommendations made in a joint statement by thirty-six eminent citizens. Of their numerous suggestions, the one that appears to us to be of critical nature deals with reform within the political parties through in-house practice of democratic culture. To our mind, while the pressure for all-round reform of the political system must be exerted relentlessly on the key players in politics before the elections, realistically, not all of the suggestions made can be implemented given the state of confrontational politics and the limited time at our disposal before the next general elections.What seems eminently doable however is democratisation of the nomination process at the constituency-level in contrast to the highly centralised system of nomination feeding on inherent absence of intra-party democracy and the attendant tendencies to impose candidates from the top. The local-level leaders and party workers hardly have any say in the matter of choosing their candidates at the crucial selection level, all the rest naturally coming to them as fait accompli. In such a system, needless to say, candidates with black money and muscular prowess have a greater chance to sway party choices then others, let alone horse trading as a potential influencing factor. In other words, the top-inflicted nomination needs to be replaced by a bottom-up process in which within a political party consultations will ensue with a view to choosing candidates tested on the criteria of honesty, both financial and moral, dedication and eligibility. This should be replicated by all political parties within a constituency so that the best aspirant from each political party has the greatest chance of getting nomination. Given the will on the part of the leaderships of the political parties, this objective of democratising the nomination process is quite achievable and worth pursuing from this moment onwards.
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