Petty parties

I am confused by our election laws where a person holding a single seat or a few thousand followers (voters) can register a party with the election commission of Pakistan (ECP). Such parties seem to have no ideology or purpose except for personal gains by leveraging their solo seats or act as spoilers to the vote bank. Those that can’t win any seat but have enough votes to spoil it for others enter the election campaign with full fanfare only to gain maximum benefits from those whose vote they might split. They usually withdraw from contesting elections at the eleventh hour by getting what they want, which is personal gains in terms of favour or money.

Those with the capacity to win limited seats do so with full force. This usually leads to a hung parliament with no single party winning a majority. This is the best time for small parties with a handful of seats in the NA to blackmail the party trying to form government. They keep the government hostage all the time, which does not allow the minority government to virtually do anything in terms of fulfilling their promises. I think it is about time we amended our laws to stop such self-serving spoiler parties from contesting the elections just to either split votes or keep the government hostage against their few seats. Many countries such as Canada have a minimum number of seats or national vote bank required in order to gain the status of a political party. I think it is about time we amended our laws to stop the blackmail of larger political parties at the hands of single-member parties.

Raja Shafaatullah

Islamabad