Nonpartisan Democracy: Extract from a Wikipedia Entry

Posted on March 9, 2024 by Roger Knights

This variant of democracy should be of interest to persons wanting a less “political” (adversarial) system of government. (A few paragraphs might be quoted in support of demiocracy.) The Wikipedia link is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-partisan_democracy

Nonpartisan democracy (also no-party democracy) is a system of representative government or organization such that universal and periodic elections take place without reference to political parties. Sometimes electioneering and even speaking about candidates may be discouraged, so as not to prejudice others’ decisions or create a contentious atmosphere.

De facto nonpartisan systems are mostly situated in states and regions with small populations, such as in Micronesia, Tuvalu, and Palau, where organizing political parties is seen as unnecessary or impractical.

A direct democracy can be considered nonpartisan since citizens vote on laws themselves rather than electing representatives. Direct democracy can be partisan, however, if factions are given rights or prerogatives that non-members do not have.

Generally, the winner is chosen from a runoff election where the candidates are the top two vote-getters from a primary election. In some elections the candidates might be members of a national party but do not run as party members for local office.

Nonpartisan elections are generally held for municipal and county offices, especially school boards, and are also common in the election of judges. In some nonpartisan elections it is common knowledge which candidates are members of and backed by which parties; in others, parties are almost wholly uninvolved and voters make choices with little or no regard to partisan considerations.

… such systems are not incompatible with indirect elections (such as for large geographical areas), whereby delegates may be chosen who in turn elect the representatives.

In nonpartisan legislatures, there are no typically formal party alignments within the legislature; even if there are caucuses for specific issues. Alliances and causes with a nonpartisan body are often temporary and fluid ….

Elections to offices in the Roman Republic were all nonpartisan, though the informal factions of the Populares and Optimates did emerge within the Roman Senate.

Historians have frequently interpreted Federalist No. 10 to imply that the Founding Fathers of the United States intended the government to be nonpartisan.

The Republic of Texas was a nonpartisan democracy before it was annexed by the United States.

From 1853 to 1890, within the Self-governing colony of New Zealand, Members of Parliament were not organised into any formal political parties.

The Non-Partisan League was an influential socialist political movement during the 1910s and 1920s in the United States, especially in the Upper Midwest, which also eventually bled over into the prairie provinces of Canada.

Because of their nonpartisan ideology, the Progressive Party of Canada refused to take the position of the official opposition after the election of 1921 when they came in second place.

Pacific Islands nations: … Nonpartisan governments are much more likely in countries with small populations. … Other nonpartisan island nations are the Pitcairn Islands, Micronesia, and Palau. These nations have small, highly dispersed populations.

The state of Nebraska in the United States has nonpartisan elections for its legislature because candidates are neither endorsed nor supported by political parties.

The territorial government of American Samoa is completely nonpartisan. … The British territory of Falkland Islands has a completely nonpartisan government in that no political parties operate on the islands. All eight members of the Legislative Assembly are nonpartisan, as is the Chief Executive and the Governor.

Guernsey has a nonpartisan legislature.

Political parties played no official role in the Isle of Man before the 2006 elections and played a minor role in the 2006 elections. At the 2001 election for the House of Keys, the Manx Labour Party polled 17.3% of the vote and only 2 seats.

Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha, does not have any active political parties,…. The Saint Helena Labour Party and Saint Helena Progressive Party existed until 1976.

The Canadian territories of the Northwest Territories[12] and Nunavut[13] have nonpartisan legislatures. … This system is in deference to the system of consensus government that predominates among the indigenous Inuit and other peoples of northern Canada.

Unique among democratic nations with partisan elections at the federal level, almost all Canadian cities and counties (and similar levels of supralocal government) have governments elected on a nonpartisan basis.

The Village of Scarsdale, New York selects its Board of Trustees using a nonpartisan system that dates back to 1911. Candidates for office are privately interviewed by a diversely composed committee and then nominated for office. New York State law mandates that these nominees must be democratically elected, however, nominated candidates are rarely contested in the general election. The coordinating Scarsdale Citizens’ Non-Partisan Party motto is “Performance, Not Politics”

The Baháʼí Faith states that the partisan apparatus is not a necessary or beneficial aspect of democracy.

Filed under: Elections |

6 Responses

johnedwardtaylor, on March 9, 2024 at 6:28 pm said:

“The Baháʼí Faith states that the partisan apparatus is not a necessary or beneficial aspect of democracy.”

This is a gross understatement. Contention and dissent are absolutely forbidden for us. The structure of our administration is built from the ground up to enable elected individuals to become members of our institutions without parties, campaigning or any other partisan behavior. Even openly discussing the merits of candidates is not allowed, due to the importance of laws against gossip and backbiting. The ancient ideal of a reluctant leader is central to our spiritual ideals.

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Yoram Gat, on March 10, 2024 at 6:40 am said:

John,

How do people get to become aware of who the candidates are (their very names), and what their proposals are? How do people get to know the records of the candidates (e.g., faithfulness to their professed ideals)?

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Roger Knights, on March 10, 2024 at 2:44 pm said:

Hello John: I’ve read the Wikipedia entry on the Baha’i faith. It references Mike McMullen’s book, The Baha’i faith in America, which I’ve ordered from Amazon. The endnote in Wikipedia gives these pages in the book as relevant to political nonpartisanship: 69, 136, 149, 253–254, 269

What you’ve said below aligns well with the aims and methods of my proposed “Demiocracy”:

“The structure of our administration is built from the ground up to enable elected individuals to become members of our institutions without parties, campaigning or any other partisan behavior. … The ancient ideal of a reluctant leader is central to our spiritual ideals.”

The aim of Demiocracy is similar: for the office (of Elector) to nonpolitically “seek the man” by means of a novel bal-lottery technique, which would work as follows (copied from Chapter 2 in this series):

“Each member of the “full” (or “base,” or “mass”) electorate would be given 10 (say) “ballots” with which he/she could nominate similar everyday citizens of their acquaintance to be his/her Proxies; no more than three ballots could be cast for any one person, including for him/herself. [Or only five ballots might be assigned, and all must be cast for different persons.]

All nominations would go into a virtual “bal-lottery box,” along, optionally, with some percentage of randomly selected names—say from 20% to 50%. From the box the names of pending Proxy Electors would be drawn and put into a reserve pool.

There would be four (say) tiers, or levels, of Proxy Electorates: Local, County, State, and National. Bal-lotteries would be used to promote Electors from one tier to the next-higher tier, while remaining as much as possible within a similar issue-specialty (or “topical domain”) —e.g., education, law enforcement, transportation, commerce, etc.

[People] could unobtrusively indicate a willingness to serve as Electors by wearing a special item or pattern.

The number of Electors per PE at each level would be:

Local: 5-13.

County or congressional district: 9-23.

State (governor or senator): 23-49.

Nation (Presidential): 251–651.” [End Quotation]

Electors at each level would have more agency than members of mass-electorates, owing to their “Demi”(small) size, meaning that they could act somewhat like an executive search committee (small), which seeks the best man for an office—someone who might be a “reluctant,” at least reluctant to run under the current system of “DeMockery.”

At a minimum, candidates that presented themselves to these Proxy Electorates would not need (as at present) the backing of a political party, of a pressure group, of the press, of mass propaganda, or of pelf (money), since electioneering would be cost-free, over a private intranet. Candidates therefore could and would not be professional politicians , but “uncommon common men”—talented amateurs. (And so would most Electors.)

Politics would thus be purged of 80% of the aspects that seem to me to be objectionable to the Baha’i faith. Indeed, this would be the first political system under which Baha’is could stand for office—and be chosen.

(I don’t see how more purging of politics could be done without harm to the system’s legitimacy, performance, or both.)

Your thoughts?

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johnedwardtaylor, on March 11, 2024 at 7:41 pm said:

How do people get to become aware of who the candidates are (their very names), and what their proposals are?

First of all there are no candidates, everyone is eligible, as I suppose was the case in Ancient Athens. The first Baha’i principle is the search for truth, and the value of a vote is based on how much and how well you know them. Baha’u’llah advises everyone to “Take ye counsel together in all matters.” (www.bahai.org/r/545364905) Notwithstanding that, the rule about no campaigning means that we cannot rely upon direct inquiry when it comes to election qualification.

The goal is universal participation where everyone is involved as much as possible in both consultation and active service. At our monthly (every 19 days) feasts the Local Assembly openly consults about whatever is of general concern, and individuals are free to bring up anything they wish. The goal and ideal is that every vote is based on direct personal experience with the individual you vote for. Although this is not absolutely possible in a larger community, it is, as I say, the aim and ideal we strive for. Baha’u’llah said to consult together in all things, and we are told to consult with the Assembly “as one would one’s parents.” Since this is also not totally practicable in a large community, the Assemblies often appoint a counsellor to deal with personal concerns.

How do people get to know the records of the candidates (e.g., faithfulness to their professed ideals)?

Within the institution itself, this is openly discussed for electing officers. Unlike the general elections, a person is free to say whether they are willing or able to serve in a given post. Sometimes the attendance of Assembly members is published in the local newsletter, but sometimes this is deemed not compatible with the prayerful atmosphere in which Baha’i elections are meant to be held. I suppose it depends on the need at the time.

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johnedwardtaylor, on March 14, 2024 at 2:09 pm said:

<<<<<< Roger Knights, on March 10, 2024 at 2:44 pm said: Hello John: I’ve read the Wikipedia entry on the Baha’i faith. It references Mike McMullen’s book, The Baha’i faith in America, which I’ve ordered from Amazon. The endnote in Wikipedia gives these pages in the book as relevant to political nonpartisanship: 69, 136, 149, 253–254, 269

I have not heard of that book. I agree with you that sortition can and should be applied in many creative ways to improve politics and democracy, and that it would be especially effective in purging corruption through the “sanitation” of the lot. Baha’i administration has been changing rapidly in the past few decades. New levels of “meta-voting” have been introduced, where both the electors and the elected themselves elect electors; for example, local assembly members now elect regional counsels.
In my opinion sortition could be easily incorporated into the Baha’i Faith and other religious groups — in view of this:
“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” (Proverbs 16:33, NIV)
This is scriptural for all the Abrahamic religions. It basically legitimizes random decisions by saying that God is behind them and works them out. In a similar way, nature incorporates random mutation in bringing forward the evolution of organisms.
In my opinion, every town should erect a cleroterion at its town hall and run the entire labour force, or at least the volunteer part of it. This would enable universal employment — a Baha’i law and goal. The drama and suspense of a daily or weekly drawing of the lot would encourage universal participation. The beauty of a visual and dramatic display of sortition would at the same time make it all but impossible to rig. Invisible drawing of lots can easily be nullified by cheating.

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Roger Knights, on March 14, 2024 at 7:11 pm said:

John Edward Taylor wrote:

“In my opinion sortition could be easily incorporated into the Baha’i Faith and other religious groups — in view of this:
“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” (Proverbs 16:33, NIV)

“This is scriptural for all the Abrahamic religions. It basically legitimizes random decisions by saying that God is behind them and works them out.”

Wow! What ammo for us Sortitionites! (BTW, that word “lap” reminds me of Homer’s phrase, “In the lap of the gods”)

But I don’t like pure sortition , as the subtitle of my upcoming next chapter, 16 (watch the next space on Equality By Lot for it in a day or three) in this series reveals: “Sortition, i.e., a purely lottery-chosen, randomized Proxy electorate, isn’t sufficiently legitimate: Democracy requires mass electoral input, ideally of a “sifting” sort.”

Please give me more details on how your elections work now. Does winning require a majority vote, or only a plurality? How many votes are cast in an average LSA? How many in the next level up? Have there been complaints about them, or appeals to improve them?

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