Campaigning

The rarefied atmosphere of prayer and reflection with absence of campaigning is significant to Bahá'í elections

"Equally significant to the procedures for election — to further extend the example — is the evocation of that rarefied atmosphere of prayer and reflection, that quiet dignity of the process, devoid of nominations and campaigning, in which the individual's freedom to choose is limited only by his own conscience, exercised in private in an attitude that invites communion with the Holy Spirit. In this sphere, the elector regards the outcome as an expression of the will of God and those elected as being primarily responsible to that will, not to the constituency which elected them. An election thus conducted portrays an aspect of that organic unity of the inner and outer realities of human life which is necessary to the construction of a mature society in this new Age. In no other system do individuals exercise such a breadth of freedom in the electoral process."

(Universal House of Justice, Individual Rights and Freedoms, par. 20)

Society is not well served by the political theater of candidature; people can, with progressive education, recognize their interests and refine adopt electoral procedures which refine the selection of their decision-making bodies

"Clearly, such principles [for effective leadership] can operate only within a culture that is essentially democratic in spirit and method. To say this, however, is not to endorse the ideology of partisanship that has everywhere boldly assumed democracy's name and which, despite impressive contributions to human progress in the past, today finds itself mired in the cynicism, apathy, and corruption to which it has given rise. In selecting those who are to take collective decisions on its behalf, society does not need and is not well served by the political theater of nominations, candidature, electioneering, and solicitation. It lies within the capacity of all people, as they become progressively educated and convinced that their real development interests are being served by programs proposed to them, to adopt electoral procedures that will gradually refine the selection of their decision-making bodies."

(Bahá'í International Community, Prosperity of Humankind, no. 59)

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