BreakingPolitical Scientist Josué Sénat Supports the Requirement for Political Parties to Submit 30,000 Members to Participate in Elections

With the submission of the electoral decree by the Provisional Electoral Council, several commentators, leaders and heads of political parties, as well as citizens interested in political life, are embroiled in debates around Article 139, particularly on the requirement imposed on political parties to present certain guarantees to participate in the upcoming elections. Some believe that the CEP is acting in contradiction with the law on political parties by requiring parties to submit a list of 30,000 member supporters or sympathizers.

It is nevertheless necessary to establish a distinction between the law on political parties, which governs the creation and functioning of political parties, and the electoral decree (or law), which defines the modalities of their participation in political life and elections.

The law of January 2014 determines, through its provisions, the conditions for the creation and functioning of political parties, that is, the criteria allowing a party to acquire the legal personality necessary for its legal existence and its activities. This law has also, to a certain extent, laid the foundations for the institutionalization of political parties. However, it remains silent on the concrete modalities of party participation in political life and electoral competitions.

Yet, it is well known that the Electoral Council has the responsibility to set the conditions under which elections must be organized as well as those that parties wishing to take part in electoral competitions must meet. In other words, it is up to the CEP to determine the modalities of political parties' participation in elections. From this perspective, the requirement to submit a list of 30,000 members falls fully within its prerogatives and cannot be interpreted as a contradiction with the law on political parties.

While it is true that political parties have, among other objectives, the conquest of power, their creation and legal existence do not automatically imply an absolute right to participate in elections. A party must still be able to demonstrate a real existence, a capacity for mobilization, and a certain popular base to claim participation in elections. It would be difficult to justify allowing more than 320 political parties, many of which struggle to mobilize a hundred people, to unnecessarily engage the already limited resources of the public treasury.

Josué Sénat,

Political Scientist