South Asia’s Political Parties Need Internal Reforms to Revitalize Regional Democracy
This article originally appeared at atlanticcouncil.org and is reproduced here with express permission of the Atlantic Council.
Nearly 50 percent of the world’s countries will see voters head to the polls in 2024 in what has become known as the “year of elections,” and South Asia leads the way, representing nearly half of the world’s voters this year. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Maldives, and Bhutan have already held their general elections. Sri Lanka’s presidential election is scheduled for this fall. Only Nepal, which held its last national elections in 2022, is not joining this year’s voting festivities.
These elections come at a precarious time for South Asia’s democratic standing. Prominent democracy indices, including Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem), Freedom House, and the Atlantic Council’s Freedom and Prosperity Indexes, show most of the region going in the wrong direction. Recent elections in South Asia’s most populous nations illuminate this trend.
As South Asia’s democracies show signs of dysfunction, citizens are disengaging. In all five of South Asia’s completed elections this year, voter turnout was down. In the most recent wave of the World Values Survey (2017-2022), which included Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and the Maldives, less than 15 percent of respondents said they were “very interested” in politics and only small minorities had participated in political activities such as engaging with online political organizations, signing a petition, or joining a political demonstration. Large majorities reported no party membership. Across South Asia, it appears that democracy is not delivering.
South Asia’s political parties are contributing to the problem. The region’s oldest and most institutionalized political parties have lost their vigor. Many key parties that have historically relied on the popularity of family dynasties are losing ground, failing to cultivate dynamic leaders, generate innovative ideas, or respond to citizen needs. World Values Survey data show that majorities in South Asia’s surveyed countries had “not very much” or “no” confidence in political parties. The weakening of the region’s main parties—many of which have been integral to winning and sustaining democracy in their countries—has corresponded with South Asia’s democratic stagnation.
Nevertheless, these same parties are an essential part of the solution to the region’s political problems. Despite evidence of atrophy, most of the leading parties still possess strong organizational characteristics and a core base of support. Internal reforms are needed to revive citizen-centered political competition, demonstrate that democracy delivers, and revitalize public faith in representative government.https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/issue-brief/south-asias-political-parties-need-internal-reforms-to-revitalize-regional-democracy/