Few times in recent American political history could match the drama of what has unfolded around the Indian elections.
The surprise victory of the Congress party upset all expectations and the Indian stock market.
The surprise abdication by Congress party leader Sonia Ghandi upset past all upsets. One political ally threatened a fast hoping to change Mrs. Ghandi’s decision. A wildly circulated photograph showed a Congress supporter, gun to his head, he was so distraught at the news.
Reuters has reactions from the mass of Congress representatives:
In a string of speeches marked by impassioned pleas, tears and breaking voices, Congress MPs said millions of ordinary Indians had chosen her to lead them and begged her to ignore attacks by Hindu nationalists over her foreign birth.
One of the more inscrutable platitudes regarding politics says, “all politics is local”. Especially in a parliamentary system a single vote in a single district represents support for the local candidate. Only tangentially can a vote represent party affiliation.
Voters elected Congress candidates, but they never directly indicated whether Sonia Ghandi should be Chief Executive. A presidential system clears this confusion. If the office of Prime Minister remains a playing field of grandiose personality politics, then the Indian Government would do well to consider direct election as the solution.
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