Re: Do Pakistan political parties hold primary elections?
How are the leaders of the major political parties in chosen?
I don't think that the candidate for PM position is chosen thru internal voting, rather the lobbyists for a candidate within the parties work and convince leader/leadership for the person of their liking. If they verbally agree then he moves forward.
Re: Do Pakistan political parties hold primary elections?
^ Including Altaf's party.
That's right. Every Party. Otherwise asking for democracy for Pakistan by any political party that do not choose their own leaders in a democratic fashion is hypocracy. :)
Re: Do Pakistan political parties hold primary elections?
I have been highly impressed watching the American political process, where candidates from both parties are going to every state to win votes in order to be their party's nominee in the Presidential election in November.
Do Pakistan political parties have a similar electoral process to choose their parties nominees for Premier? Or what kind of leadership elections do the parties hold?
I agree the US system of electing party leaders is the toughest and most rigorous (and perhaps the fairest) compared to any where in the world. It's like contesting a second election before the actual general election. Hence I believe that the eventual Presidential Candidates for the Republican and Democratic parties should become President and Vice-President since they have both been through the mill (plus every single President and Vice-President in their history has either been a Democrat or Republican) depending on who wins the election. It will also promote national reconciliation :)
Kerry lost narrowly against Bush in 2004. Al Gore lost an even closer election in 2000 (if anything Gore won a greater percentage of the popular vote than Bush). One state result was all that separated Bush and the others in each instance. Bush laughed all the way to the White House and both Al Gore and Kerry were left just holding a katora or pyaali in hand. The 2000 result was esp. cruel on Gore. It was that close.
On a lighter note primaries etc. won't work or happen in Pakistan. It's wishful at best. It requires time and capital + a lot of travelling. Our political culture is dominated by violence and feudalism. Security is a huge problem during election rallies in Pakistan. We could easily have a situation where both the main PM candidates have been assassinated or seriously injured even before the actual elections!
The best one can hope for in Pakistan is a system whereby party members are obliged to elect their PM candidate 6 months or so before each election but your guess is as good as mine as to whether it will ever happen.