Khaberni - The Independent Election Commission addressed the Labor Party and the Islamic Action Front, emphasizing the necessity to correct the violations in their constitutions according to the legal deadlines stipulated in the Political Parties Law.
The Independent Election Commission, through its spokesperson Muhammad Khair Al-Rawashdeh, explained that the Party Register had addressed six parties last week to complete matching their constitutions with the standards of good governance, where four parties complied, while the mentioned two parties did not complete the correction of the documented violations.
Al-Rawashdeh pointed out that the Islamic Action Front did not provide the required amendments to the Party Registry, asserting in his last letter to the registry that it did not complete the necessary corrections to be in line with its constitution, which necessitates considering the party in violation of the law. Based on Article (33) of the Political Parties Law, it mandates notifying the party to make corrections within (60) days.
The spokesperson for the "Independent Election" highlighted that the Labor Party "refused" in an official letter to comply with amending a set of violations in its constitution, constituting a breach of the good governance standards agreed upon after consultations and understandings with all parties in May last year.
Al-Rawashdeh clarified that the violations recorded on the constitution of the Islamic Action Front were not limited to just the name's violation of Article (5/b) of the law, but included articles that contradict the essence of democratic practices, some of the most significant being "the violation of the mechanism for forming party courts, the mechanism for electing the executive office in a way that restricts choices to the hands of the General Secretary", in addition to violating Article (25/a) of the law which specified "the financial resources of the party and their spending methods, and the violation of Article (7/c) of the law, regarding the provisions related to the liquidation of the party's funds", where the current system gives the party "the right to distribute its funds to charitable associations" in contradiction to the law that stipulates those funds should revert to the parties' item in the state treasury, and meanwhile, several comments were sent to which the party has not yet responded as of receiving the notification from the Party Registry.
Regarding the Labor Party, the spokesperson for "Independent Election" explained that the violations in the party's constitution, which it officially refused to amend, were directly linked to the standards set by the council along with other political parties, where those violations included "granting powers to the General Secretariat of the party to issue penalties to its members away from the party court which has jurisdiction", in addition to appointing names without any democratic practice, exceeding a third of the central council in the party, which represents the legislative authority" as well as the party constitution preventing the right to challenge any decision issued by the party except for expulsion penalties, meanwhile, giving the right for any citizen outside the party to file a complaint against its members, contradicting the jurisdiction of the party courts which is limited to internal party issues.
Al-Rawashdeh emphasized that, to date, the Registry of Parties has not received the required amendments from the two parties, and with the end of the additional deadline granted to the parties, which started from June of last year, this resulted in considering both parties in violation of the Political Parties Law No. (7) for the year 2022, which necessitates notifying those parties in accordance with the council's decision, to make corrections within 60 days.
The official spokesperson reiterated the Independent Election Commission's commitment to applying the Political Parties Law fairly, ensuring equality of opportunity among all parties, and safeguarding the integrity of political competition, which anchors the standards of justice as a general principle, and prevents the monopolization of symbols or the employment of affiliations and statuses to one party over others.
