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 programme that he particularly favours--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 19 July
2000 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual
believer)
