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What are the various challenges faced by political parties?

Answer:

Political parties are the most visible face of democracy, it is natural that people blame parties for whatever is wrong with the working of democracy. All over the world people express strong dissatisfaction with the failure of political parties to perform their functions well. This is the case in our country too. Popular dissatisfaction and criticism has focused on four problem areas in the working of political parties. Political parties need to face and overcome these challenges to remain effective instruments of democracy.

Lack of internal democracy: The first challenge is lack of internal democracy within parties.

Parties do not hold organisational meetings and do not conduct internal elections regularly. They do not have the means or the connections needed to influence the decisions.

As a result the leaders assume greater power to make decisions in the name of the party.

Unfair Advantage and Dynastic Succession: The second challenge of dynastic succession is related to thefirst one. Since most political parties do not practice open and transparent procedures for their functioning, there are very few ways for an ordinary worker to rise to the top in a party.

Money and Muscle Power: The third challenge is about the growing role of money and muscle power in parties, especially during elections. Since parties are focused only on winning elections, they tend to use shortcuts to win elections.

In some cases, parties support criminals who can win elections.

Absence of Meaningful Choice: The fourth challenge is that very often parties do not seen to offer a meaningful choice to the voters. In order to offer meaningful choice, parties must be significantly different.

However, to face these challenges, political parties need to be reformed.