Capitalist Democracy: A Two Parties System

Typical capitalists’ democracy or ideal democracy is a two parties system. This is what has been tried recently in Pakistan. But unexpectedly Imran failed to win in Punjab and lost so many seats with slight margin.

The initial plan seems to have received a big setback. It was expected that PML N will win more seats from other provinces while PTI will win more seats from Punjab. However, one cannot control all the political dynamics. This is where the whole game apparently went wrong from a traditional political perspective and analysts are puzzled.

The biggest success of the strategy was by the non-state actors who helped PTI a big victory not only on National Assembly seats but also on provincial Assembly seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and to the surprise of the masterminds the whole province is now under control. It was not intended to completely wipe out the  ANP but the Tsunami went out of control.

The policy also could not succeed to disturb power structure in Karachi in favour of a more centralist politics and somehow could not succeed to further shrink political space for the PPP in Sind.

In Baluchistan an alliance between PML N and PMAP would mean diluting the hardcore Pakhtun nationalism. A representative government in Baluchistan would also mean de-legitimizing Baluch insurgency.

Both PML N and PTI are now supposed to redefine the civil-military relation in the light of the changes the region is passing through especially detachment of Pakistan from increasing US pressure and setting it on the path of attaining a sovereign status for itself. The policy would also seek good relation with India and Afghanistan.

A two parties system is introduced mainly to address the following issues.

1. Pakistan needs democracy and political stability which can best be ensured by a two parties centralist political arrangement.

2. It will dilute regional and nationalists parties who are at present in a better position to blackmail the center and in case of Baluchistan invite foreign intervention.

3. This system can easily be manipulated by outsiders through (MMM) money, media and military force where necessary.