…the
way in which believers become members of the elected institutions is
democratic. It is, indeed, far more democratic than the methods by which the
members of most parliaments are elected. The Bahá’í electoral system is
entirely free from the power and bargaining of parties and factions, and from
the manipulations of vested interests. Each voter is free to cast his or her
ballot for whomever he or she chooses.
Even in
the best democracies nowadays the driving incentive in elections is the wish of
each politician to obtain power so as to be able to carry out the program that
he particularly favors—an election becomes a competition which the
self-promoting candidates either “win” or “lose.” The electorate is treated as
a mass to be swayed, by rhetoric and various forms of inducement, to support
one or other candidate. In the Bahá’í system, however, the voters are the
active force and the motive which impels them is to choose those individuals
who are best suited to serve on the institution. The persons elected are
passive in the electoral process (except in their role as voters) and accept
election as an obligation to serve the community in response to the wish of the
electorate. In other words, the systems differ in their essential spirit: one
is a seeking for power, the other is an acceptance of responsibility for
service.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 18 July 2000 written on behalf of the
Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)
