Political Parties in South Asia: Th e Challenge of Change South Asia Regional Report Based on research and dialogue with political parties Political Parties in South Asia: Th e Challenge of Change South Asia Regional Report Based on research and dialogue with political parties Lead Author: K. C. Suri Nagarjuna University India International IDEA Research and Dialogue Coordination: Roger Hällhag Head of the Political Parties Programme Sakuntala Kadirgamar-Rajasingham Head of the South Asia Programme Maja Tjernström Programme Offi cer, Political Parties Programme James Gomez Programme Offi cer, Political Parties Programme About this report Political parties are indispensable for making democracy work and deliver. Finding the proper conditions for the better internal functioning and effective legal regulation of political parties is of key importance anywhere. This report is the result of worldwide research and dialogue with political parties. Together with national and regional research partners, International IDEA is improving insight and comparative knowledge. The purpose is to provide for constructive public debate and reform actions helping political parties to develop. For more about the Political Parties programme, please visit http://www.idea.int/parties. Political Parties in South Asia: The Challenge of Change © International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance 2007 This is an International IDEA publication. International IDEA publications are independent of specifi c national or political interests. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of International IDEA, its Board or its Council members. Applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or any part of this publication should be made to: Publications Offi ce International IDEA SE 103 34 Stockholm Sweden International IDEA encourages dissemination of its work and will promptly respond to requests for permission to reproduce or translate its publications. Graphic design by: Trydells Form Cover photo: Upper photo: © EPA/Scanpix Lower photo: © Tomas van Houtryve/Panos Pictures Printed by: Bulls Graphics, Sweden ISBN: 91-85391-93-6 ISBN: 978-91-85391-93-6 4 Acknowledgements This Report on Political Parties in South Asia emerges as part of the Programme of Research and Dialogue on Political Parties undertaken by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) during the years 2004–2006. The research was made possible owing to the participation of the following individuals and institutions: • Imtiaz Ahmed and Ehsanul Haque, Centre for Alternatives, University of Dhaka; • Dwarika Nath Dhungel (Institute for Integrated Development Studies, Kathmandu), with Vikas Satyal and Shankar Aryal; • Zafarullah Khan, Centre for Civic Education, Islamabad; • Chatura Randeniya and Andrew Pilliar, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo; and • Lokniti (Institute for Comparative Democracy), Programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. In India, several scholars and researchers of the Lokniti network were involved in the study. C. Kavitha, Dhananjai Joshi, Dolly Phukan, Swarnali Sengupta, Niloy Samanta, Kathakali Chanda, Krishan Kumar, Suhas Chaugule, Nitin Birmal, Prakash Pawar, Abhay Datar, B. S. Padmavathi, Sudhir Hilsayan, Kumar Sanjay, Shaji Varkey, R. K. Satapathy, Maria do Ceu Rodrigues, Muneshwar Yadav, Ram Shankar, S. N. Mishra, Rekha Chowdhary, Ashutosh Kumar, Anil Verma, Sandhya Goswami, Amiya Chaudhuri, Gopa Kumar, Sandeep Shastri, Sanjay Kumar, G. K. Prasad and V. Anji Reddy either carried out the interviews or assisted the main researchers. We wish to thank all the researchers involved in the study for their painstaking efforts in carrying out desk research and interviews and preparing the Country Reports. Imtiaz Ahmed, Ehsanul Haq, Dwarika Nath Dhungel, Zafarullah Khan and Chatura Randeniya provided further inputs in the preparation of the report. We thank Vicky Randall, Philip Oldenburg and Jayadev Uyangoda who gave useful suggestions and comments on the draft. Yogendra Yadav, Peter deSouza and Suhas Palshikar lent their support at various stages of the study. We are also grateful to them for providing access to the data collected in the Survey component of the State of Democracy in South Asia project of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in Delhi. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, took care in putting the things together in the initial stages and to ensure that the project took off smoothly. We thank all the political parties of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka for extending their cooperation to this study and especially the party leaders, who spared time to give interviews and participated in the Dialogue Workshops. 5 Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................................5 Foreword ....................................................................................................................8 1. Methodology .....................................................................................................13 2. The Context .......................................................................................................19 2.1 Socio-political and economic environment ..........................................................19 2.2 Electoral system ...................................................................................................26 2.3 Legitimacy of parties ............................................................................................28 3. Changing Party Systems ...........................................................................37 3.1 Trajectory of the development of parties ...............................................................37 3.2 Adversarial attitudes .............................................................................................44 3.3 Proliferation and fragmentation ...........................................................................48 3.4 Patterns of inter-party competition ......................................................................54 3.5 Emergence of multi-partism .................................................................................56 3.6 Typology of parties ...............................................................................................63 4. External Regulation ......................................................................................75 4.1 Formation, registration and recognition ...............................................................76 4.2 Restrictions and prohibitions ...............................................................................80 4.3 Elections and campaigns ......................................................................................82 4.4 Party fi nances .......................................................................................................86 5. Internal Functioning .....................................................................................89 5.1 Leadership selection .............................................................................................91 5.2 Candidate selection ..............................................................................................94 5.3 Policy/Programme development ...........................................................................96 5.4 Membership .........................................................................................................97 5.5 Organizational structure ....................................................................................100 5.6 Discipline ..........................................................................................................101 5.7 Financial resources and expenditure ...................................................................101 5.8 Leader-centrism and dynastic succession ............................................................104 6 6. Women’s Participation ..............................................................................109 6.1 Legal provisions .................................................................................................113 6.2 Eff orts by parties to ensure women’s participation ..............................................115 6.3 What does the situation indicate? .......................................................................120 7. The Way Forward .........................................................................................125 7.1 Party reforms: why do we need them? ................................................................127 7.2 Some suggestions for party reforms ....................................................................130 Abbreviations .......................................................................................................137 References and Select Bibliography ......................................................139 About the Author ..............................................................................................143 About International IDEA .............................................................................144 Tables 1.1 Political parties researched ....................................................................................14 2.1 Country profi les ...................................................................................................23 2.2 Attitudes towards