By Austine Uche-Ejeke
 |
| Attahiru Jega, Chairman, Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission |
The political system was once again super charged with the purported merger of a plethora of political parties to form what is called All Progressives Congress.
Before this breakthrough, there had been a series of attempts to fuse some political parties into one formidable bloc that can challenge the extant ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party.
Unfortunately most of this ‘gang-up’ usually end up in fiasco due to what pundits may describe as enlightened selfish interest of the political gladiators who often position themselves for political prominence rather than the actual task of providing a good platform that can act as an alternative to the party in power.
What we had were situations where obviously strange bedfellows hurried up to the blanket at the behest of an impending election. Just like failure is predicated on lack of adequate preparation, so at the end of the day, nothing useful will come out of it.
As if to herald or act as a harbinger of this merger, some weeks ago, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deregistered some political parties that did not meet certain fundamental requirements of a political party.
To add glamour to the merger, INEC has applauded the supposed merger of political parties, thereby giving it a provisional approval pending when other formalities will be perfected for its registration.
What is this two-party structure that many are advocating for Nigeria? Simply put, it is a system of having two strong political parties that offer the electorate a well streamlined alternative to choose and belong mostly for electioneering purposes. In this situation also, only two major political parties dominate and compete with each other in election for different spheres of government.
The pertinent question that detractors of this sort of structure will ask — is it proper for a pluralistic country like Nigeria to be confined to just two political parties? The answer may be yes or no, depending on your political proclivity. The other big poser is what have we achieved with multiplicity of political parties in the country. By the last count, before the INEC hammer on parties, about 50 political parties existed. Are these mushroom groups political parties in the actual sense of the word or just portfolio associations with no known addresses and offices?
Some of them were just there for nomenclature sake and pocketing of grants. In fact, it is widely believed that some of them act as spoilers for the other serious political party as they hardly perform the altruistic function of opposition political parties. Some of them hail and congratulate the ruling party even before the election is concluded, thereby crying even more than the bereaved. But in the actual sense of it, they are supposed to offer constructive criticisms that will galvanize the country into greater heights.
What will Nigerians gain by limiting themselves to just two political parties? That is the very crucial question that may be agitating the minds of many people. One of the benefits is that it will provide two distinct options for the electorate to select. The process and choice of candidates will be less intricate as Nigerians will just pick a candidate of their choice. In case of making a mistake in selecting a candidate in an election, the electorate will now have an alternative of electing the other political party or candidate in the next election if they feel the other political party will provide a better alternative and good governance.
This two-party system will also relegate to the background the regional politics and parties that are becoming the order of the day.
At the risk of sounding imitative, some of the stable democratic governments of the world operate a two-party structure. Prominent among them are the United Kingdom where we have Labour Party and the Conservative Party. Also the largest democracy in the world, United States, has Democratic Party and Republican Party.
To a large extent, this kind of arrangement has assisted the Americans to develop and deepen its political party politics and processes. In the United Kingdom, the contest and winning of election have always been between the Labour Party and the Conservatives. These are the major political parties, although there are other pockets of small political parties. In a situation where the Labour party performs below expectations; the electorate will simply switch over to the conservative party.
For some years the Labour Party had been winning elections but the British decided otherwise and elected the other alternative. Also in US, the Republicans were dethroned after eight years of George Bush as the Democratic Party took over. Thus the American two- party system has helped the country’s electorate to hire and fire candidates at their whims based mostly on performance.
We need a change in this country and if two- party system will take us to the Promised Land, so be it as that will be a most welcome development.
• Uche-Ejeke, toff_ng@yahoo.com
The most popular article for weeks
No comments:
Post a Comment