Nationalist Party deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami yesterday called on the government “not to overregulate” when it comes to the structure of political parties.
He was speaking during a meeting of the Consideration of Bills Committee, which continued discussing the Financing of Political Parties Bill.
Dr Fenech Adami was echoing fellow MPs Chris Said and Claudio Grech, who said Parliament should not have any say in the general structure of political parties.
Dr Said insisted parties should run themselves as they wished so long as the rights and duties of their members were protected.
Justice Minister Owen Bonnici wondered whether this could lead to a one-man party who decides everything on his own.
When sub-clause 4 came up for discussion, it was decided to remove the need for a party’s statute, or amendments to it, to be registered with a notary, and the word “notary” was substituted by “the Electoral Commission”.
Parties should run themselves as they wish,so long as the rights and duties of their members are protected
Opposition spokesmen reserved the right to further amend this clause to read “regulatory body” instead.
Anybody should make the statute or amendments easily accessible to the public, said Dr Said. Parties should self-regulate and post their statute online for public consumption.
Instead of publishing the names of officials in two newspapers, Carmel Cacopardo, for Alternattiva Demokratika, suggested this could be done away with as parties register their officials with the regulatory body. Dr Fenech Adami said it was imperative that the names of elected party officials be made public. Regarding the small parties which emerged from time to time during electoral campaigns without any statute or formal structure, Dr Bonnici pointed out that he did not know, for example, who was leading Imperium Ewropa or Il-Partit tal-Ajkla at the moment.
Turning to Clause 9, regarding the prevention of an activity by a political party if it was felt that it might lead to violence, Dr Bonnici said he felt it was crucial that this be spelt out.
Mr Cacopardo pointed out that this was already covered by the declaration of principles in Clause 4, and Mr Grech said it was covered by other laws on public order.
Dr Said said public order was not assured by preventing public meetings from taking place, while Dr Fenech Adami noted that this was a dangerous precedent and it was sending the wrong message.
He recalled the Żejtun mass meeting which was not held because the permit was not given for fear of violence. So cases like this were already provided for in the law.
The Attorney General, Peter Grech, said a political activity might have to be restrained as a last resort to ensure public order.
“In principle there is nothing wrong with this,” he said, citing Northern Ireland as an example, where the Orange March was not allowed to pass through certain streets.
Mr Cacopardo, however, insisted that in the past such clauses were used in an anti-democratic way. And Dr Said vehemently objected to the clause, saying the PN was “once bitten, twice shy” over the issue.
Dr Bonnici said he did not wish to be misinterpreted and agreed to do away with this clause completely.
When the committee came to Clause 10, it was pointed out that reference to “internal party discipline” and “the right to a fair hearing” were not needed as every party faced these administrative problems on a daily basis.
Mr Grech said every party was accountable to its members if it did not handle these matters well, and he felt this constituted undue interference in internal party affairs.
Mr Cacopardo suggested that disciplinary measures should be made known.
Dr Bonnici asked whether a member had the right to take a political party to court because he felt he had not been given a fair hearing, but Dr Fenech Adami pointed out that one became a member of a party out of one’s own free will and had to abide by its rules.
The idea of this Bill, Dr Said said, was to regulate the parties but not to tie their hands behind their backs. It was agreed that this clause would only refer to “a fair hearing”.