Problems before political parties

Editorial –

Political parties and their leaders have before them a number of problems seeking urgent solution. Prominent among them are: managing internal democracy, responding to the aspirations of youths, renewing trust in the top leadership and convincing general people about their power to serve, perform and deliver services when they are in power. All the four issues, which are currently biting the political organizations particularly those in leadership positions, could neither be wished away nor tackled overnight. They could be addressed through appropriate and transparent processes. However, the political organizations including Nepali Congress, CPN UML, Maoist Centre, CPN Unified Socialist, Rastriya Jana Morcha, Janata Samajwadi Party, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, and other parties represented or not represented in the current parliament appear rather not serious about pursuing right way to tackle the problems. They show no signs of recognizing the problems. All are keenly trying to push their leadership and organizations in the traditional leader-centric way in the midst of factions (a sort of divide and rule policy), favouritism and highhandedness. Because of this trend the chance of ensuring internal democracy in parties is slim, assuring opportunities for youths is remote, renewing trust in top leadership democratically appears not possible and earning confidence in performance and service-delivery looks unfeasible. All these suggest that the country will have to bear with confusion and mess in politics for the next six years or so. The only silver lining of hope could be found in the way the current coalition politics worked out among the ruling parties evolves over time particularly until the poll times about a year or so away. If the coalition politics grows in a positive and constructive way a scenario of political stability will be possible in the country. If the coalition partners cannot work in a team spirit, instability will once again mark the country’s politics. The ruling coalition should become aware of this and do the needful to avoid confusion, instability and mess in the country’s politics. In the process it should be mindful of all the high values of democracy including political accountability.