‘Supremacy’ of the Constitution of a Political Party: A Philological Incongruity or a Legal Actuality

Abstract

By virtue of their membership, members of a political party surrender their rights to the guidelines of the party. However, it may be impossible not to acquiesce to the dictates of the powerful elites in oligarchic settings, which a political party represents. As principal instruments for contesting elections, political parties mobilize majorities in support of their leaders and programmes, and this paper which engaged a doctrinal methodological analysis found that political party constitution must be rooted in democratic and constitutional precepts. Yet, circumstances arise where the mystification of what is identified as ‘party supremacy’ and infallible ‘party constitution’ have been questioned as to whether the constitution of a political party is indeed supreme, as while holding the party to strict compliance of law, the same standard also applies to its members. Consequently, the making of political determinations of the party must be ideally reflective of the will of every class of persons in the party since it was found that the internal affairs of a political party are non-justiciable, subject to express statutory provisions. This paper concludes that though the courts do not have the requisite statutory vires to interfere in internal party process aimed at winning elections, the supremacy accorded apolitical party’s constitution must not result in a power-drunk executive, with lost bearings on national goals.There should be a balance between the supremacy of party constitution and obedience to existing hierarchy of laws.

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