Is the recent horse trading proof why the parliamentary system is ill suited for Pakistan?

[Savak]

Imran Khan made so many promises that he was not going to make alliances with tainted parties like PPP, PML-N, MQM but unfortunately his party did not win an overwhelming majority in the assembly and had to rely on other parties to form a Coalition government in the centre especially with parties he was very reluctant too i.e. MQM, PML-Q.

Imagine the horrendous situation if he had to rely on PML-N and PPP. This is why I am not a big fan of the UK Parliamentary System at all where the President is a powerless figurehead, where the PM faces no stress if he has an overwhelming majority or is powerless if he does not have a comfortable majority.

PTI does not even have enough seats in the Senate so it is questionable as to whether they can get their bills passed effectively in Parliament.

I personally feel that the US Presidential System is a better option for Pakistan where the nation just votes for one person into office and the other candidates fight their own battles in other elections and once the person is elected he is free from the tension of horse trading, ensuring that he has enough seats in Parliament to carry out his Manifesto and Agenda.

 

[Mian]

I am against it because of the low literacy rate and influence of electable system based on nawabs/sardars/waderas controlling the poor voters.

 

[InziRules]

I'd rather have Parliamentary system than the American system. Can you imagine if people got to directly vote for their local Waderas as President?

Forget Nawaz and IK, we'd have some Wadera from Punjab as President

America also has a Senate and a Congress, so the system is almost the same.

 

[JaDed]

I'd rather have Parliamentary system than the American system. Can you imagine if people got to directly vote for their local Waderas as President?

Forget Nawaz and IK, we'd have some Wadera from Punjab as President

America also has a Senate and a Congress, so the system is almost the same.

That's not how American electoral system works.

 

[Pakistanian]

Gold diggers exist in every system. In America the lawmakers sell their souls to powerful lobbyists who wine and dine them.

 

[InziRules]

That's not how American electoral system works.

Punjab has a majority of the population and would have the majority of electoral seats in the US system as well. Thus the local Wadera would get the votes.

 

[Pakistanian]

Imran Khan made so many promises that he was not going to make alliances with tainted parties like PPP, PML-N, MQM but unfortunately his party did not win an overwhelming majority in the assembly and had to rely on other parties to form a Coalition government in the centre especially with parties he was very reluctant too i.e. MQM, PML-Q.

Imagine the horrendous situation if he had to rely on PML-N and PPP. This is why I am not a big fan of the UK Parliamentary System at all where the President is a powerless figurehead, where the PM faces no stress if he has an overwhelming majority or is powerless if he does not have a comfortable majority.

PTI does not even have enough seats in the Senate so it is questionable as to whether they can get their bills passed effectively in Parliament.

I personally feel that the US Presidential System is a better option for Pakistan where the nation just votes for one person into office and the other candidates fight their own battles in other elections and once the person is elected he is free from the tension of horse trading, ensuring that he has enough seats in Parliament to carry out his Manifesto and Agenda.

In America the President needs the congress on board to carry out his agenda, Obama couldn't get any legislation through once the Republicans took control of congress and now Dems are pushing hard to win this congressional election so they can impeach Trump. There are 3 branches of govts here with checks and balances in place so the President doesn't have all the powers.

 

[cric_man]

If that was the case, pols would only concentrate on NY/CA/TX.
Electoral college actually gives other smaller states a big seat at the table.

 

[Syed1]

I don't know how good the American system is, they did just elect Donald Trump as their president.

 

[hussain.r97]

A mix of a the French system for presidency and an adjusted MMP system for the National Assembly would work well in Pakistan, it would eliminate horse trading, the influence of candidate based voting, etc. The Senate should also be directly elected, like in the US.

Presidency should be elected by proportional popular vote in a two-round system, where the top two from the first round battle in the second round (like in France). Before the actual election, each party should hold a US style primary election. Governors for each province should also follow the same model.

The National Assembly should be elected on an provincial MMP system (like Germany, Turkey, and New Zealand, but based on province), where each party that breaks the 10% vote threshold in a province gets seats allocated to them proportionally. The NA constituencies and candidate races would remain, but they would be irrelevant. If a party wins more constituency than the seats allocated to them from the popular vote, more seats are added to the assembly called "overhang seats". An MMP system would force people to vote on a party basis rather than a candidate basis.

Provincial assemblies should follow the same model as the National Assembly, but it will be a regular MMP system rather than a provincial MMP system. A case could also be made to lower the vote threshold to win seats down to 5% in PAs.

The Senate should have a two-round first pass the post system. Each province should be divided into an equal number of divisions, and each division should have two senators. Candidates for Senate should also be chosen in a US style primary election.

 

[Pakistanian]

A mix of a the French system for presidency and an adjusted MMP system for the National Assembly would work well in Pakistan, it would eliminate horse trading, the influence of candidate based voting, etc. The Senate should also be directly elected, like in the US.

Presidency should be elected by proportional popular vote in a two-round system, where the top two from the first round battle in the second round (like in France). Before the actual election, each party should hold a US style primary election. Governors for each province should also follow the same model.

The National Assembly should be elected on an provincial MMP system (like Germany, Turkey, and New Zealand, but based on province), where each party that breaks the 10% vote threshold in a province gets seats allocated to them proportionally. The NA constituencies and candidate races would remain, but they would be irrelevant. If a party wins more constituency than the seats allocated to them from the popular vote, more seats are added to the assembly called "overhang seats". An MMP system would force people to vote on a party basis rather than a candidate basis.

Provincial assemblies should follow the same model as the National Assembly, but it will be a regular MMP system rather than a provincial MMP system. A case could also be made to lower the vote threshold to win seats down to 5% in PAs.

The Senate should have a two-round first pass the post system. Each province should be divided into an equal number of divisions, and each division should have two senators. Candidates for Senate should also be chosen in a US style primary election.

Potw bruh, this is a great solution

 

[Adijazz1706]

In America the President needs the congress on board to carry out his agenda, Obama couldn't get any legislation through once the Republicans took control of congress and now Dems are pushing hard to win this congressional election so they can impeach Trump. There are 3 branches of govts here with checks and balances in place so the President doesn't have all the powers.

Where do executive orders fit into this fantasy of checks and balances?

 

[hussain.r97]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In a two round Presidential system, IK and SS would make it to the second round, where the former would win. In a hypothetical second round contest, SS would be ahead in Punjab 52-48, with IK winning all the three other provinces with around two-thirds of the vote in each. <a href="https://t.co/fTY9me1yu0">pic.twitter.com/fTY9me1yu0</a></p>— Roshan Pakistan Opinion Polling (@RoshanOpinion) <a href="https://twitter.com/RoshanOpinion/status/1026691602104942593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Madplayer]

There should be 2 votes for graduates and above.

 

[Savak]

I think the French Democratic System is an interesting idea. Why not have the President of the country responsible for the Armed Forces, Security, International Relations and the Prime Minister is responsible for the domestic affairs of the country?

 

[Madplayer]

I think the French Democratic System is an interesting idea. Why not have the President of the country responsible for the Armed Forces, Security, International Relations and the Prime Minister is responsible for the domestic affairs of the country?

You have an interior affairs or a home minister for domestic matters and a foreign minister for foreign affairs.

What powers does the President hold in Pakistan? In India he is just a ceremonial head while PM enjoys real powers.

 

[Mian]

I think the French Democratic System is an interesting idea. Why not have the President of the country responsible for the Armed Forces, Security, International Relations and the Prime Minister is responsible for the domestic affairs of the country?

You have an interior affairs or a home minister for domestic matters and a foreign minister for foreign affairs.

What powers does the President hold in Pakistan? In India he is just a ceremonial head while PM enjoys real powers.

The commander-in-chief of the Pakistani armed forces is the President of Pakistan (currently Mamnoon Hussain). However, he doesn't have much operational powers as far as military is concerned.

President had 52b power till 2008 through which he could throw away all the elected governments and call new elections but Zardari in PPP govt gave away this power.

 

[Pakistanian]

I think the French Democratic System is an interesting idea. Why not have the President of the country responsible for the Armed Forces, Security, International Relations and the Prime Minister is responsible for the domestic affairs of the country?

That's a bad idea, the head of state should be able to have an impact on the economy, education, social policy etc as well as foreign affairs and all that stuff.

 

[Savak]

I believe the current Presidential position with zero powers is absolutely useless, complete waste of space and the expenses involved are unaffordable to a poor country. If the President of a country and the Governors of a province have zero powers and if all the powers are with the Prime Minister and CM, then why not just do away with the President and Governors?