There is an ongoing political discourse in the country about the need to broaden democratic freedom as well as about the political reforms required for this purpose. However this discussion appears to be more in the line on how to reform the state in a manner that will broaden democratic freedom. The party system which functions as a main tool of the state does not appear to act in such a way as to strengthen internal democracy in those parties.
When a crisis arose in the UNP and 22 MPs had signed a document requesting the leader of the party to summon the parliamentary group of the party to discuss the crisis, and when parliamentarian Ravi Samaraweera took that document to Mahinda Ratnathilake to get more signatures, Mr. Ratnathilake did not hand it back to Mr. Samaraweera but took it to Ranil Wickremesinghe, it was reported.
Mr. Ratnathilake may have taken the document to his leader on the presumption that the sudden demand on the part of this group for a meeting of the UNP parliamentary group was a conspiracy to oust their leader from leadership.
If Mr. Wickremesinghe was a leader who respected democratic traditions, what he should have done was to summon a meeting of the UNP’s parliamentary group, explain his viewpoints. But instead he resorted to getting the signatures of the MPs declaring their loyalty to him, contradicting democratic traditions.
Due to the enormous power of the party leader, it is unlikely that any member would refuse to sign such a document.
Absence of internal democracy is not a feature inherent in the UNP alone, but is common to the SLFP too which may be considered the main political party. Neither of those parties has given its members the right to choose the leaders of the party or to decide party policies.
Normally in a party with a democratic organizational structure, the lowest unit is considered to be the party branch. The regional or electorate centers of power and district or electorate centers of power consist of the leaders of a number of party branches while the executive committee and the all island committee consist of leaders of district centers of power.
The working committee or the central committee which may be considered to be the main working body which includes the chief leader of a party is selected by that working committee or the all island committee. It is in order not to allow any change in party leadership that the party leader is given the right to appoint a number equivalent to half the total membership of that working committee or the all island committee which may be considered the main executive.
Not only anti-democratic features existing in a party but also anti-democratic features of the political party system have a bearing on the non democratic and authoritarian feature that prevails in the political atmosphere. It is through political parties that the leaders required by a country emerge. If these emerging leaders are given a training to function as dictatorial leaders, instead of a training necessary for functioning as democratic leaders, one can only expect a dictatorial administration from such a group of leaders.
No party, in which the members are denied the right to decide on the leaders and party policies, can be considered a democratic.
The prairie fire of democracy which is raging in the UNP should spread to other political parties too. There should emerge in every party a demand for democracy within, before extending it to the country.