Proposed law on political parties

Draft of Law 29 of 2012 on the Organisation of Political Parties

General National Congress (GNC)

Article 1:
A special request form must be filled in and submitted by the political party seeking authorisation to exercise its activities. The form must be signed by 50 of the party’s founding members, accompanied with a list containing the names of all party’s founding members, their professions, dates of birth and addresses. The list must be signed by each and every founding member and endorsed by a public notary within the constituency of the party’s headquarters.

Article 2:
The following documents must also be submitted with the request form;

The political party’s by-laws containing the data provided for in Article 12 of the Act.
An undertaking by the party’s Chairman not to establish any military or paramilitary formations or even assist in any such bodies.
An undertaking not to include in the party’s programmes, publications and bulletins that incite violence, discord or hatred.
An undertaking not to spread or publish any ideologies or thoughts contrary to Islamic law.
An undertaking not to spread or publish any ideologies or thoughts encouraging political tyranny.
Reserved right certificate from the “Parties Affairs Commission”, indicating that the party’s name, logo and code is not already in use by other party or by a party that has been dissolved within the previous three years.
A letter from one of the banks operating in Libya confirming that a bank account has been opened officially in the party’s name.

Article 3:
Support will be disbursed from the state to political parties as stipulated in Clause 2 of Article 20 of Law No. 29/2012, referred to and in accordance with the following procedures:

A request for support by the head of the party to the Committee on Political Parties.
The Commission will then forward the request to the Monitoring Unit for review and to ensure the request meets all entitlement support conditions.
The Monitoring Unit then returns the request with the Unit’s recommendations of approval or non-approval.
If case of approval, the request is transferred, with payment recommendation, by the Committee on Political Parties to the Minister of Justice to take the appropriate action.

Article 4:
Financial support will be governed by the provisions of the State Financial System Act, budget list and accounts.

Article 5:
The party must make provisions in its by-laws for book-keeping, including detailed data on income and disbursement procedures, without prejudice to the provisions of this regulation or any other relevant legislations. The party must also include in its annual report to the Commission, details of income and expenses relating to the report year.

Article 6:
State media must give authorised parties an equal share of media use if so requested by the party. No party should be denied its media usage share for any reason provided the party’s media usage conforms to constitutional principles and legislation in force. Media bodies, however, have the right to arrange with each party, the date, day and length of time required to use the media and which material to publish within the media body, in a way that does not prejudice other parties’ rights to use the same media channels and within the limits and capabilities of the media body in question.

Article 7:
Forms and records required for the legal implementation will be determined in accordance with the annexes attached to these regulations.