About the Forum:
The Forum For Presidential Democracy is a political party devoted to the cause of spreading the concept of a truly democratic presidential system for the country with checks and balances. The Forum is the only registered political party committed and dedicated to the sole objective to bring about this change. The Forum does not harbour any political ambition & has no vested interest of any group or any other political party. It is said that Democracy is of the “people”, for the “people” and by the “people”, but in our present set up the word “people” seems to have been replaced by the word “politicians”. It is felt that a truly democratic presidential system with certain modifications including long overdue electoral reforms would be lot more suitable for better governance of the country. An overwhelming majority of the people in our country are increasingly frustrated and disillusioned on account of the prevailing unsatisfactory state of affairs resulting from the current unstable & corrupt political set-up and mis-governance. However, for most of the people, there appears to be no satisfactory way out of the present grim predicament. Based on study and analysis of mature and liberal democracies of several countries including the USA, Germany, Britain, France, Australia, etc. it is felt that Presidential System of Democracy with certain modifications would be lot more suitable for better governance of the country including minimizing the scope for corruption.
The concept of Presidential form of democracy:
1) Direct election of the Executive Head of the Govt. by the people at the National and State levels including major metropolitan cities (known as the President, the Governor and the Mayor, respectively).
**Under our present model all our heads of the government be it mayor at local level, Governor at State level or President at National level are mere ceremonial needs of the government without any Executive powers. At local level (city/town), we have in fact no effective or executive head of the government responsible for governance while State & National level we have Chief Ministers & Prime Minister who are elected by the political parties after the election and many a times especially when no political party has a clear majority, there is coalition government and the choice of CM or PM is a virtual hoarse trading between the political parties forming coalition to suit their vested interests. In sharp contrast Presidential system provides for a clear & distinct vote for the people to elect the Executive head of the government at all levels i.e. local, State and National level. It also provides for an independent vote to elect municipal councillor, (city level) MLA at State level & MP at National level who need not belong to the same party as that of the President at national level or Governor at State level. It also provides for direct election of Senators (Upper house) of parliament by the people. This is in sharp contrast to our Rajyasabha where the nominees are selected by party bosses without any participation of the people.
(for more details click on the slide nos. 6-9 in powerpoint presentation)
2) Providing for a fixed tenure of the Executive Head of the Govt. so that they are not dependent on the mercy of legislators for their survival.
Presidential system ensures stability of government, unlike our system where we have a plethora of regional/ language/ caste based political parties in most of the states and we have very often coalition governments at State & Central level. These coalition governments consisting of several disparate political parties are formed more often to share loaves & fishes of office and the tenure of governments is uncertain and on many occasions they have collapsed like a pack of cards. (for more details click on the slide nos. 10-29 in powerpoint presentation).
3) Separation of Executive (i.e. Cabinet) from the Legislature so as to provide an opportunity for the Executive Head to select the best available talent as members of his team.
In our present system merit is a secondary criteria and political clout is the main criteria for getting ministerial gaddis. In case of coalition CM or PM are very often helpless and there is a fierce bargaining among the coalition partners for grabbing lucrative (!) portfolios. In a Presidential System as Cabinet is selected from outside the legislature and the legislature being independent is able to provide better check on the Executive i.e. President and his cabinet. (for more details click on slide nos. 30-44 in powerpoint presentation).
4) Introduction of a legislative system whereby legislators will have full freedom to vote according to their judgment irrespective of the party line and the establishment of a strong committee system whereby any proposed legislation shall be analysed in an impartial and professional manner.
In Presidential System there is also freedom available to every member of legislature both at State and National level to vote on any legislation as per his discretion. There is no system of ‘whip’ unlike our system wherein the members of legislature have to abide as per directive of the party and vote accordingly. The anti-defection law has virtually deprived the legislators the freedom to express their freedom on legislative matters and they are rarely bothered to study the pros and cons of legislation. (for more details click on slide nos. 46-50 in powerpoint presentation).
5) No Executive Head of the Govt. whether at State or Central Govt. to remain in Office for more than two terms.
6) Introduction of adequate checks and balances between the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. Judiciary to have full power to review any legislation which would affect the fundamental rights of the people. In order to prevent criminals from entering the legislature, the pending criminal cases against the legislators to be run on day to day basis.
(for more details click on slide nos. 52-77, 105, 109, 110 in powerpoint presentation).
7) Primary system for nomination of candidates wherein the members of the party will elect the candidates in a secret ballot (wherein the party-bosses will have no role to play for nomination).
(for more details click on slide nos. 92- 100 in powerpoint presentation).
8) Providing state funding in a regulated manner to the parties so as to minimize / eliminate their dependency on other private sources.
9) Implementation of Mixed Proportional Representation for Legislature. (To allot 50% of seats in the Legislature as per our current ‘first past the post’ and balance 50% to the parties based on percentage of votes polled by them. The ballot paper consists of 2 parts, one for the choice of candidate and one for the choice of party.
Our present system of ‘first past the post’ has resulted into a system where a small percentage of swing of votes results into a huge difference in no. of seats won by the parties (for more details click on slide nos. 101-104 in powerpoint presentation).
10) Enactment of Law on Regulation of Political Parties making all political parties accountable for source of funds and assets and mandatory to publish audited accounts every year and also to ensure democratic working of the Party.
You may also see Videos on ‘Why India Needs Presidential Democracy’ Part-I covering Stability, Cabinet Formation, Role of Legislature, Impact on Corruption etc.
Part-II covering Promotion of leadership Qualities, Primary Election, Impact of Caste & Creed, Checks & Balances etc.