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01290: Charter and other thoughts - PVR #01

From: lpc1998 <lpc1998(at)lpc1998.com>
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:19:58 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Charter and other thoughts - PVR #01

Dear PVR,

So you propose that political parties are banned within the "elected house" and that they are also banned outside the "elected house" during the campaign period.

Now, are political parties allowed to engage in political activities outside the "elected house" outside the campaign period, such as including, but not limited to, raising funds for political purposes, controlling the mass media and the workers' and students unions and other mass organisations, funding the promotion, advancement and advertisements in the media of members and other individuals friendly to the political parties?

You say religion has no role in the "elected house". I think it is more accurate to say religion has no official role in the "elected house", but certainly religions have been playing a very big role there. In this connection, what do you think are the "Christian right groupings" doing inside the European Parliament in this Guarduan report: (http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,,2087738,00.html)

"Neoconservative forces, via compliant media outlets and Christian right groupings within the European parliament, are preparing their latest attack on Hugo Chávez and the government of Venezuela. The latest focus of the campaign is the decision of Venezuela's broadcasting authorities not to renew the licence of the private television channel RCTV. The anti-Chávez apparatus once again presents a test for Foreign Office ministers."

Eric Lim (lpc1998)





Vijayaraghavan Padmanabhan <vijayaraghavan.p(at)rediffmail.com> wrote:

Dear Eric,
Thanks for your reply. During the election campaign the candidates can seek votes in their own name and not in the name of a political party. Currently voters are wooed to vote for the candidate belonging to a particular party. Thus all candidates, in effect, would be independents. Political parties can still unofficially and covertly sponsor a particular candidate but such actions will be under scrutiny and punishable. Thus they are banned from taking part in election campaigns. They are banned within the elected house and as an essential pre-requisite they have to be banned from the election campaign outside the house.

The elected representatives can still be member of a political party (outside the house) just like being a member of an association if the ideology of a particular party appeals to him. Thus there is freedom of thought and association. But once elected, the member is an independent within the elected house. This is similar to representatives belonging to different religions, but within the elected house religion having no role.

Thus the elected member is enabled to think and act in the best interests of his voters. He is not obliged to any political party or group legally. It is possible that he may act in the interests of a political party which has sponsored him covertly. But he will be watched by the press, other members of the house and the public. Such actions will invite negative reactions and would not help him politically (for example, for being considered for a ministerial berth or for getting re-elected or simply for not being recalled). Thus false democracy is checked.

What I have described above will be the final stage. There would be an intermediate stage, which I have described in my earlier post, where we have to contend with political parties both within the house as well as outside during the election campaign and there may not be a provision to recall.

PVR



On Sun, 17 Jun 2007 lpc1998 wrote :
>Dear PVR,
>
>  Good clarification: there is a definitional difference between a general ban on political parties and "banning political parties within the elected house only." I am sorry for failng to highlight that you advocate the latter.
>
>  However, you also say: ".... Moreover when every candidate is elected as an independent with the political parties being obviously banned from the election campaign as well, the candidate has to have enough merit on his own to be able to impress the voters. ..."
>
>  So you also advocate the banning of the political parties from the election campaigns as well. As election campaigns are generally carried out outside the "elected house", are you saying only election campaigns carried out within the "elected house" are banned and those carried out outside the "elected house" are not banned?
>
>  ============================================
>
>  Provision to Recall the Elected Representative
>
>  Assuming that there is a constitutional provision for the effective recall of the elected representative, such a provision would apply equally to both party representatives and independent representatives. So the issue is not whether the representative is independent or not. The issue is whether there is such a constitutional provision.
>
>  Of course, unless you are saying that your idea of "independent representatives" is not relevant until there is such a constitutional provision.
>
>  =============================================
>
>  Banning the political parties within the elected house only.
>
>  Would you please clarify what you actually mean by "banning the political parties within the elected house only"? Are you saying the ban does not extend to representatives who are members of political parties or who are sponsored or supported by political parties? In false democracy, the representatives often vote in their personal capacity as the elected representatives of the people, but they do not vote for the people or in the people's interests.
>
>  =============================================
>
>  New Political System
>
>  The new political system is the one many of us, often each in his own way, want to build to replace the existing political system. It has not come into existence yet.
>
>  Eric Lim (lpc1998)
>
>
>
>Vijayaraghavan Padmanabhan <vijayaraghavan.p(at)rediffmail.com> wrote:
>    Dear Eric,
>



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