Defeated Candidates On The National List; It Is No Sacrilege, Calm Down!

By Mohamed Faizal –August 26, 2015

Mohamed Faizal

Some of the candidates who were defeated in the recent parliamentary election have been appointed as MPs on the National List. This has created a bit of an uproar, particularly in the social media. The argument is that the holy clause concerning the appointment of National List MPs have been contravened. (Rather, the spirit of the sacred provision.) I don’t think any sacrilege has been committed. 

Put plainly – leaving out all the euphemism – provision for National List was made in the constitution to counteract the stupidity of the voters. It was to bring into parliament those high calibre candidates who the ignorant electorates would not send in. So, how exactly has the holy provision been violated? When the party leaders appointed the defeated candidates as MPs, they were acting with the spirit of the provision; they were bringing into parliament those, who the masses, in their absolute ignorance, had refused to elect. What the party leaders have done is just righting of a wrong. It is fully in the spirit of the holy provision. In any case, who are we to interpret the sacred provision? The understanding of the holy priests of democracy should, and it does, carry much heavier weight than the understanding of the laity, the voters.

When a candidate is defeated in an election, it doesn’t mean that he has now become unfit to become a member of parliament. Politicians and voters know this alike. If we thought a defeat in an election rendered a candidate unfit to rule, then politicians would not be allowing them to contest another election, and the voters would not be participating in an election where defeated candidates are fielded, let alone elect them. As we know too well, not only are the defeated candidates permitted to contest another election, the voters who defeated them in the previous elections have gleefully on numerous occasions elected them to parliament this time. Everyone believes that defeated candidates are not unfit to rule.                         Read More