CAN INDIA TRY NO-PARTY DEMOCRACY?

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?

The expression “democracy” has originated from Greek. In Greek, the word “democracy” is divided into two parts- demos and Kratos where demos mean people while Kratos mean rule. In other words, democracy means the rule of the people.

David Held, a renowned authority on the concept, defines the term as “Democracy means a form of government in which, in contradistinction monarchies and aristocracies, the people rule. Democracy entails a political community in which there is some form of political equality among the people”.

Precisely stated, democracy is the rule by the people. Of all the definitions of democracy perhaps the best and most popular definition is the following: It is called “the government of the people, by the people and for the people”.[1]

We can also say that in democracy, ‘people govern themselves.’ Democracy is a universal form of government in the world today and it is widely spread in different countries around the world. The democratic form of government is considered better than other forms of government, because in this type of government the king that is the government, is chosen by the citizens of the country. Examples of a democratic form of government are- India, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Poland, Norway, Iceland, Australia, etc.

Whereas in countries like Saudi Arabia, China, and Chile, the citizens have no right to elect the leader/the king, and such kinds of government are called a non-democratic form of government.

In a democratic form of government, citizens have the right to vote on various decisions. But there are a lot of decisions to make all the time and it is neither feasible to call upon everyone to cast their opinion now and then nor it is easy to process different opinions so gathered, as it is arduous. Due to this, the citizens give their vote to the representatives who are contesting in the elections for the official government post, and in return, they need to fulfill the expectations of the citizens by making the law and working for the benefit of society.

FEATURES OF DEMOCRACY

1. Preponderance Rule- This system of government is based on the majority in the votes for the elections.

2. Representative elections- The citizens are allowed to elect representatives to speaks for their views and interests.

3. Multi-party system- The citizens can form political parties and get registered and contest in the elections. Moreover, people have more options to select representatives in the elections.

4. Free and fair election- The elections are being conducted with proper rules and regulations being followed and the ruling government has chances to lose the election.

5. Rule of law- democracy is based on the principle of rule of law, i.e., ‘law is the ultimate king.’

6. Freedom of assembly- There are no restrictions to form political parties. In India, there are more than 750 registered political parties.

7. Freedom of speech- There are no unreasonable restrictions on the political parties to exercise their right to freedom of expression and speech.

The main issue arising in the democratic form of government is that can a society establish an effective and democratically accountable government in the absence of political parties? To address this issue, we need to first examine the role of political parties in a democracy.

The essential functions performed by political parties are as follows-

1. They establish peaceful competition for power.

2. They represent citizens’ interests.

3. They promote stability in the government.

4. They keep the government accountable.

A democratic electoral system requires these functions to be fulfilled and political parties are well placed to fulfill these functions effectively and efficiently. However, political parties also pose risk in democracy.

1. They serve as a vehicle for small alights and their interest

2. They can lead to an inharmonious political environment.

3. The elected leaders are not aware of the interest and the opinions of the society do which conflicts arise.

If we are to eliminate these risks, we should move towards a democratic system without political parties. In such kind of system, there will be only independent candidates which are elected and can fulfill their law-making functions without any association with a party. Such type of system is known as a nonpartisan democratic form of government.

NO PARTY DEMOCRACY

When we have elections, in our colleges or schools for any societies/clubs, the representatives are being elected by the students, faculty members, and other higher authorities based on their resume and other qualities which are required for a particular post. Here, the representatives are individually elected and not associated with any group. This is a perfect example of no-party democracy. In other words, no party democracy which is also known as nonpartisan democracy means no association or prejudice with a political government.

In short, the citizens have still the right to elect their representative based on the qualification for a particular post, the only difference is that there will be no political parties and no qualification will be required for being a member of the political party. Nonpartisan elections are generally held for municipal and county offices. In addition, most school board elections are nonpartisan. Nonpartisan elections for judges are also common. The state of Nebraska self-identifies as the only state legislature that is entirely nonpartisan. The Nebraska State Senate is unicameral. [2]

This was first started by National Resistance Movement (NMR) in Uganda during the mid-1980s, which introduced a new type of electoral politics in the society. Even in some countries, the head of the State is nonpartisan. Even during the elections of the President, sometimes he received cross-party support or represent independently without any association with any political party.

This type of system may be either de jure- where political parties are either don't exist or are legally banned from contesting in the elections. It can be de facto in nature when no such laws related exist or no political parties exist. The examples of de facto nonpartisan systems are Micronesia, Tuvalu, and Palau, whereas de jure nonpartisan systems exist in several states of the Persian Gulf (including Kuwait and Oman).

Nonpartisan democracy is different from one-party democracy as in the one-party system, the governing representatives identify themselves as a political party, whereas in a nonpartisan democratic system, the citizens elect the representatives who have similar interests and views.

Another difference is that, in the nonpartisan system, people have more chances to be elected and govern the citizens and equal benefits are given to all the representatives according to their post whereas, in the case of the one-party system, government officials needed to be members of the party to avail the benefits which are available only for the members and this type of system follows a complex hierarchy (which plays a vital feature in the government). In nonpartisan it generates demand by citizens for more predictability in political processes.

The most vital difference is that, in the single-party type of government, people are forced to elect them because they don't have any other options as the ruling government makes other political parties illegal, while in no party democratic system, people can choose whosoever they want. China and Cuba are examples of a single-party system and the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Center for American Progress, are examples of a nonpartisan system.

Now the major issue that arises is whether will such a system be effective in India, and can independent candidates achieve healthy competition, stability, and accountability while governing the citizens?

Accordingly, to the author’s opinion, though there is a possibility for a nonpartisan democratic form of government, it won't be effective in India as many of the representatives will think about their interests first and not of the citizens.

Secondly, there won't be check and balance maintained in the society as in the case of the two-party system or multi-party system, the opposition party was there to maintain the check and balance as it keeps an eye on the ruling party.

Thirdly, there won't be proper delegation and cooperation between the representatives as there might be a conflict due to different perspectives, views, opinions, and interests for a particular matter.

Though this type of system provides more opportunities to individuals. Secondly, candidates will think above the party lines and lastly, the candidates belonging to rural or semi-urban areas can address the interest or the issues of the people more easily. And it creates incentives for leaders to become much more attentive to timely results, as it makes their continued participation in the political arena uncertain.

CONCLUSION

The no-party democratic form of government is not suitable for a country like India, as this type of democratic system can be more effective and efficient in the smaller countries like Micronesia, Tuvalu, and Palau, in several states of the Persian Gulf including Kuwait and Oman, etc. And, in schools and colleges for the post of representatives in a society/clubs.

For India, the two-party system will be more effective and efficient than the multi-party system as the opposition party will not be able to form cartels to bring down the ruling government instead it will play as a check and balance, to check whether the ruling government is working in the interest of the citizens.

REFERENCE

1. Giovanni Carbone, Political Parties in a ‘No-Party Democracy’, (last visited at 5 pm on 29th September 2021)

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249731310_Political_Parties_in_a_'No-Party_Democracy'

2. Non-partisan Democracy, Wikipedia, (last visited on 29th September 2021 at 5 pm)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-partisan_democracy

3. Nelson Kasfir, African Ambiguities: “No-party Democracy” in Uganda, Project Muse (last visited on 29th September 2021 at 5 pm)

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/16882

FOOTNOTES [1] Nitisha, Democracy: Definition and Explanation, Political Science (Last visited on 29th September 2021 at 4 pm) https://www.politicalsciencenotes.com/democracy/democracy-definition-and-explanation/831

[2] Nonpartisan, BALLOTPEDIA, https://ballotpedia.org/Nonpartisan (last visited on 29th September 2021 at 5 pm)