The definition of democracy is often limited to a system of governance, but it is much more than that. Democracy is inclusion, it is empowerment, and above all – it is a universal value. The idea that people collectively determine the rules of governance and then adhere to their own agreed norms, is a manifestation of human maturity. This signifies a positive transition from the systems of inequitable power distribution to a more shared system for decision making – preventing conflict and fostering stability.
To mark this day, Pakistan celebrated the international day of democracy with great pride. This day comes at the opportune moment of the third successful transition of a democratic government. While our democracy continues to be messy, as most young democracies are, the path to success doesn’t seem far. With 80.5 million young people (18-29 years old), the biggest challenge for our democracy in 2018 was to ensure inclusion of the youth.
We saw significant success in overcoming this challenge during elections 2018, as the election indicated an increased inclusion of young people which is laudable, who exercised their vote, which ended up being game changer for many constituencies across Pakistan. We also saw induction of young parliamentarians in assemblies, which signifies the beginning of youth inclusion, which is extremely healthy for a society which is to experience a youth bulge soon.
While there are many avenues to criticize, which is what democracy freely allows us to do, however, there is a lot to celebrate as well. On this international day of democracy, we should be proud of Pakistan’s third democratic transition, we should be proud of the participation of our young people in the process and lastly we should be proud of our commitment to continuing with the democratic system and working on improving it for future generations to come.
