The role and significance of party elections
Did the party election bring a significance that can be learned by others to enhance the country’s democracy?
Or, is the party just marking time and even becoming more and more like the MCA which has been trapped in the quagmire of factional fighting, as some party outsiders criticised?
Soong Phui Jee, Sin Chew Daily
The DAP’s Central Executive Council (CEC) leadership line-up elected in December last year was re-elected on 29 September. Although it had been expected that the number of votes received by some candidates would increase or decrease, it had at the same time reflected the subtle changes resulted by the party factional fighting.
An indisputable fact is, through the CEC re-election, the opposition faction has called for checks and balances for the strong leadership of Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng. Both the father and son had received lesser votes this time and Guan Eng had even dropped from the second place to the fifth in the ranking, reflecting the growth of forces of the opposition faction. The changes have received much concern.
In a democratic country, party election is also a very important part in the practice of democracy. Competition brought by a party election could indeed evolve into dispute and division, but there is also a positive side. If party election can really help the party elect a group of outstanding leaders, it will mean complementing a powerful force for the party’s future. It provides not only new room for the party’s democracy development, but also a very good opportunity for reform. However, the political field has always been filled with interest disputes. Once factional fighting turns over intense, party election will become a dispute of the vested interest group. The life-or-death battle among various factions will weaken the party’s overall forces and become unfavourable to the party’s growth and development.
How to have a high-quality party election should be the target of all political parties as it is also a crucial foundation for the party’s growth and democratic politics.
The DAP party re-election was particularly noticeable partly because it has gained a brilliant victory in the general election this year, allowing party chairman Karpal Singh to have an extremely high expectation of seizing the Putrajaya in the future. Meanwhile, it is also because the re-election was held following an order from the Registrar of Societies (ROS) after finding irregularities in the original polls held on 15 December last year. In addition, Ladang Paroi DAP branch chief David Dass had applied on 10 September for an injunction to stop the special congress on grounds that it was illegal to call for a special congress to hold CEC elections, leading Guan Eng to describe the entire incident a “political revenge”.
In any case, the DAP has finally held the re-election successfully. In addition to some arguments over the number of votes gained by some candidates, one point that should earn more concern is, did the party election enhance democracy in the party after going through a series of internal and external tests and controversies? Did the party election bring a significance that can be learned by others to enhance the country’s democracy? Or, is the party just marking time and even becoming more and more like the MCA which has been trapped in the quagmire of factional fighting, as some party outsiders criticised?
