How to Elect your Leader?

By HNN Bureau

Elections provide the most opportune moments to express our preferences for socio-economic and other policies pursued by the political parties. Every time one comes around, we find a number of party workers soliciting our votes, and a little preparedness on our part can help. These questions can help us examine our preferences privately, and to engage others in discussions about the answers. Please feel free to submit your questions by writing editor@hyderabadnews.net; we will maintain this page in perpetuity for use in all future elections.

Before you cast your ballot ...
Questions for the party poll worker at your door.

An elected leader

Who is the head of your political organization?

How did s/he get to that post?

Were internal elections held to appoint him/her?

Second string

Who are the other leaders of your political party?

How well educated are they? How many have college degrees?

If elected, who will occupy the major portfolios - finance, home, human resources, education, law, and energy?

Ideological integrity

What is the distinguishing characteristic of your party?

Which parties are clearly different from yours?

Do you have any pre-poll alliances? What is the basis for such alliances? Do the alliance partners share your economic and social ideologies? Give me some examples.

Financial background and integrity

What do you (the candidate) do for a living?

Do you file tax returns regularly, and are you willing to make these records public?

Do you promise to declare your and your immediate family's assets periodically if elected?

Representing constituents
Are any candidates in your party contesting from more than one constituency? If yes, why? If elected from both, which one will s/he forfeit?

Transparent Government

What is your party's position on secrecy of public information?

Will infrastructure agreements be made public at the time they are signed?

Will the costs of acquisition and sale of land by the government be kept public?

We will add questions regularly; please email your questions to us at editor@hyderabadnews.net

Candidate Questionnaire: The leader
Understanding the heads of political parties at the time of elections

These questions may help you understand how the leaders of individual parties have attained their current positions. Check the table to the right, for more questions covering a range of issues relevant to making electoral choices.

- Who is the head of your political organization?
- How did s/he get to that post?
- Were internal elections held to appoint him/her?
- If yes, when were these elections last held?
- Where were they held?
- Who was eligible to vote?
- Could party members in distant towns and cities vote?
- Was this a direct vote by the members themselves, or was this a represented vote?
- How periodically are elections scheduled to be held?
- Have you always adhered to this schedule?
- Who won the last three elections to the post of party president?
- If they were not held, why not?

Candidate questionnaire: Second string
Election questions about prominent party members

These questions will help you learn the identities of other prominent persons in political parties besides the leader, and how power is shared amongst various people at the top.

- Who are the other leaders of your political party?
- How well educated are they? How many have college degrees?
- If elected, who will occupy the major portfolios - finance, home, human resources, education, law, and energy?
- Which constituencies are these leaders contesting from?
- Do they live in those constituencies, and if not, why are they contesting from there?
- Have any of these party leaders previously held positions in government?

Candidate questionnaire: Ideology
What do you believe, whose beliefs do you share or reject?

These questions will help you understand the ideology behind which the party is organized and how consistent this thought is.

- What is the distinguishing ideology of your party?

- Which parties are clearly different from yours?

- Do you have any pre-poll alliances? What is the basis for such alliances? Do the alliance partners share your economic and social ideologies? Give me some examples.

- What is your opinion on post-election coalitions? Is your party sufficeintly strong to come to power by itself, or are you supporting other political parties? In what sense are the coalition partners similar to you?

- Is your political party an off-shoot of a different one? If yes, what was the ideological reason for the split, and in what important ways does this faction differ from the rest?

- Have you, in the past, opposed any political party which you are now supporting? If yes, what has changed?

- Have you, in the past, switched political afffiliation after an election, i.e., moved to a party after being elected on as the candidate of another?

Candidate questionnaire: Finances
Ensuring accountable and assured management of public funds

These questions will help you understand the party's commitment to financial probity.

- What do you (the candidate) do for a living?

- Do you file tax returns regularly, and are you willing to make these records public?

- Do you promise to declare your and your immediate family's assets periodically if elected?

- Is there any conflict of interest between your business and the welfare of your constituents? [eg. a mill owner in a labour costituency, or a landlord in a farmer constoituency]. If so how do you propose to resolve this?

- Do you think other representatives from your political party should make their financial records public before the elections, and regularly thereafter if elected?

Candidate questionnaire: The local interest
Representing the constituents, not the leadership of parties.

These questions will help you understand how committed the local representatives are to the interests of their particular constituency, and whether they are able to represent you independent of their loyalty to party members and leaders from elsewhere.

- Are any candidates in your party contesting from more than one constituency? If yes, why? If elected from both, which one will s/he forfeit?

- Does your party allow elected representatives to vote according to their own preferences in the assembly/parliament, or are they required to vote as instructed by the leadership?

- Does your party use a whip to regulate votes in the assemblies? [A whip is a party functionary who passes the word on how the party members are expected to vote].

Candidate questionnaire: An open government
Transparent functioning by elected representatives and administrators.

These questions will help you understand the extent to which the party is willing to make decisions publicly, and provide you with information as to how and why the decisions are taken.

- What is your party's position on secrecy of public information?

- Will infrastructure agreements be made public at the time they are signed?

- Will the costs of acquisition and sale of land by the government be kept public?

- Will your party support a Freedom of Information Bill that includes whistle-blower protection? [ A whistle-blower is someone working for the government who reveals corruption inside it, and is often punished by the government as a consequence ].

- Will you enact legislation ro ensure AUTOMATIC cancellation of projects that use public money when the money is not used for the publicly stated intention?

We will add questions regularly; please email your questions to us at editor@hyderabadnews.net