Assembly approves changes to political parties’ law |13 December 2014

A series of amendments to different sections of the Political Parties Registration and Regulation Act (Cap 173) and the insertion of a new section, 29A and a new schedule therein have been approved by the National Assembly.

The amendments to sections 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 21, 24, 28 and 31 will make effective recommendations made by the Electoral Commission so as to reflect the changes which have taken place nationally and internationally  in terms of best practices in that regard.

The amendments came after over 22 years that the law has been in force.

Before coming up with the different recommendations the Electoral Commission had been meeting with all political parties in a consultation and discussion process in line with its mandate.

As per section 5 of the Act, a political party consisting of no fewer than 100 registered members may apply in the prescribed form to the Electoral Commission for registration.

In order to give the process a more serious and responsible approach it was proposed to amend section 5 which stipulates that the applicants for registration of a political party shall be registered voters of 18 years of age and that the application for registration shall contain the name, address and national identity number of the leader, secretary, treasurer and other office bearers of that party.

Presenting the amendments for Assembly consideration and approval, Vice- President Danny Faure noted that with regard to the above issue, in the past the age of the 100 applicants was not clearly specified.

The issue of funding, source of funding for political parties and other related matters are addressed in sections 24, 28 and the newly added section 29A.
Vice-President Faure pointed out that when the law came into force over 22 years ago it had a no disclosure policy when it came to the source of funding and identity of the donors but with the amendments this will no longer be the case.

“With evolution in politics, in democratic systems, in international standards, the time has come for political parties to have new principles and a new policy which is that of disclosing their source of funding and identity of the donors but within the law,” Vice-President Faure pointed out, noting that the amendments provide the necessary legal framework for that.