Act 25 2020 - POLITICAL PARTIES (REGISTRATION AND REGULATION) (AMENDMENT) ACT

[21st August 2020] Supplement to Official Gazette 343 POLITICAL PARTIES (REGISTRATION AND REGULATION) (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2020 (Act 25 of 2020) ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS SECTIONS 1. Short title and commencement 2. Amendment of section 3 of Cap 173 3. Amendment of section 5 4. Amendment of section 7 5. Amendment of section 24 6. Amendment of section 29 [21st August 2020] Supplement to Official Gazette 345 POLITICAL PARTIES (REGISTRATION AND REGULATION) (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2020 (Act 25 of 2020) I assent Danny Faure President 17th August, 2020 AN ACT to amend the Political Parties (Registration and Regulation) Act (Cap 173). ENACTED by the President and the National Assembly.. 1. This Act may be cited as the Political Parties Short title and (Registration and Regulation) (Amendment) Act, 2020 and commencement shall come into operation on such date as the President may, by notice in the Gazette, appoint. 346 Supplement to Official Gazette [21st August 2020] Amendment of 2. Section 3 of the Political Parties (Registration and section 3 of Regulation) Act (Cap 173) (hereinafter referred to as the Cap 173 “principal Act”) is amended, in subsection (1), by repealing the words “political party”, and substituting therefor the words “political party, the symbol, logo and the acronym of the party”. Amendment of 3. Section 5 of the principal Act is amended, by section 5 inserting after subsection (4), the following subsections — “(5) The Electoral Commission shall acknowledge receipt of the application for registration accompanied with the documents required under subsection (2), within 7 days of such receipt. (6) The Electoral Commission shall assess the application and the accompanying documents and verify the details of registered members of the party. (7) The Electoral Commission shall, within a period of 30 days from the receipt of the application for registration, inform the political party in writing if any further information is required. (8) The Electoral Commission shall, if satisfied that the application and the accompanying documents meets the requirements of this section, publish for a period of 30 days, the application for registration of the political party on its website and at all registration centres for the public to make comments or objections. (9) Any objections may be made in writing not later than 7 days after the expiry of the period of 30 days referred to in subsection (8). [21st August 2020] Supplement to Official Gazette 347 (10) If any objection is received under subsection (9), the Electoral Commission shall notify the objection to the political party and invite it to respond. (11) If no response is received from the political party, within a period of 15 days of the notice under subsection (10), the Electoral Commission shall reject the application for registration. (12) If a response to the objection is received, within a period of 15 days of the notice under subsection (10), and the Electoral Commission is satisfied with the response, the Electoral Commission shall within a period of 15 days from the date of the response make a decision on the application under this Act.”. 4. Section 7(1) of the principal Act is amended — Amendment of section 7 (a) in paragraph (b), by repealing the word “name” wherever it appears, and substituting therefor the words “name, logo or acronym”; (b) by replacing the full stop at the end of paragraph (c) with a semicolon and inserting after paragraph (c), the following paragraph — “(d) the name of a person has been endorsed as a registered member in the application for registration of the party without the consent or knowledge of the person.”. 5. Section 24 of the principal Act is amended — Amendment of section 24 (a) in subsection (3) — (i) in paragraph (b), by repealing the word “or”, and substituting therefor the word “and”; 348 Supplement to Official Gazette [21st August 2020] (ii) in paragraph (c), by inserting after the words “expenditure was incurred”, the words “the value of which exceeds R5,000”; (b) by repealing subsections (3A) and (3B); (c) by inserting after subsection (6), the following subsections — “(7) The Electoral Commission shall, on receipt of the statement and its review under subsection (5A), maintain the records of such statements and the review and may, from time to time, issue public reports disclosing the total funds received by each candidate or political party and the number of persons from whom such funds were received. (8) Where the total funds received from a person exceeds R50,000, the details of the disclosure made in the statement under this section shall be made public and posted on the website of the Electoral Commission.”. Amendment of 6. Section 29 of the principal Act is amended — section 29 (a) in subsection (3), by repealing the words “received immediately after the close of nomination for that election such sum out of the Fund as is equal to the lowest sum paid to a political party under subsection (2)”, and substituting therefor the words “receive, such amount to be calculated prorata on the lowest sum payable to a political party under subsection (2), from the date of nomination of its candidates to the end of the quarter in which the general election is to be held”; [21st August 2020] Supplement to Official Gazette 349 (b) by repealing subsection (4), and substituting therefor the following subsections — “(4) The sum each political party is entitled to receive under subsection (2) or subsection (3) may be paid quarterly in advance on or before 30th January, 30th April, 31st July and 31st October or in such manner and at such times as the Commission may, in consultation with the political party, determine. (5) Notwithstanding subsection (4), in an election year, the amount to be paid to political parties under subsection (2) shall be paid in advance for the quarter in which the general election is to be held. (6) Following the results of the general election of the National Assembly, the amount to be paid to political parties shall be re- calculated proportionally according to the total number of valid votes cast in favour of the candidates nominated by that party for the immediately preceding general election of the National Assembly. (7) The amount payable shall be proportional to the number of votes cast in favour of those candidates against the total number of valid votes cast at the last general election of the National Assembly. (8) The amount payable shall be calculated prorata from the first day of the quarter after which the general election was held to 31st December of that year and any payment may be made quarterly in accordance with subsection (2).”. 350 Supplement to Official Gazette [21st August 2020] I certify that this is a correct copy of the Bill which was passed by the National Assembly on 6th August, 2020. Mrs. Tania Isaac Clerk to the National Assembly