Registration of political parties

STATES OF JERSEY

r

REGISTRATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES

Lodged au Greffe on 5th June 2007

by the Privileges and Procedures Committee

STATES GREFFE

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

(a ) to agree that a system of registration of political parties should be introduced in Jersey, and that

under the system –

( i) a n y political organisation that wished to endorse candidates for election to the States

should be able to apply to the Royal Court for registration as a political party;

( ii ) a n y application for registration as a political party would need to comply with certain

conditions, namely that it should –

(1 ) b e a cc o m p a nied by a copy of the party's constitution which would, inter alia, have

to specify that the party had as an objective the endorsement of candidates for election to the States;

  (2 ) s e t o u t th e p arty's full name (which could not be longer than 6  words) together with

any abbreviation of that name and any party emblem;

  ( 3 ) g i v e t h e re gistered address in Jersey of the party and the name of its leader,

treasurer and secretary (the officials') all of whom would have to be registered as electors under the Public Elections (Jersey) Law 2002;

  (4 ) b e su p p o r t ed by at least 20 persons registered as electors under the Public Elections

(Jersey) Law 2002;

  (5 ) b e a c c o m  p a nied by a list of all current members of the party;

  (6 ) b e a c c o m  p a nied by the required registration fee;

(i ii ) t h e R oyal Court should be entitled to refuse any application for registration if –

  ( 1 ) th e a p p li c a tion did not meet any of the conditions set out in sub-paragraph (ii)

above;

  ( 2 ) if th e p r o p osed name, abbreviation or emblem were the same as those already

registered by another party, or so similar as to cause confusion;

( 3 ) i f th e p ro posed name, abbreviation or emblem were offensive, obscene or

otherwise, in the Court's opinion, inappropriate, or so similar to those used by any other organisation as to cause confusion;

( iv ) r e g i stered political parties would be required to provide details of any changes in the

identity of their officials to the Court within 10 working days of any changes and to supply to the Court an updated list of members at least once every 12  months;

(v ) a R e gister of political parties, setting out the names of all registered parties, the names of

their officials and the list of members, would be maintained by the Judicial Greffier and made available for public inspection on request;

(v i ) a re g istered political party would be de-registered and removed from the Register if it did

not meet the requirements set out in sub-paragraph  (iv) above or if it did not endorse any candidates for election to the States for a continuous period of 5  years;

(b ) to agree that any candidate for election to the States who was endorsed by political party should be

permitted, subject to appropriate confirmation of the endorsement on the nomination paper by 2 of the registered officials, to have the name of the party, or its abbreviation, entered on the ballot paper alongside his or her name; and

( c) to  request the Privileges and Procedures Committee to bring forward for approval the relevant

legislation to give effect to the proposals so that they can be in place before the elections in the autumn of 2008.

PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE

REPORT

1. I n t roduction

1. A s part of its overall work on reform of the election process the Privileges and Procedures Committeehas given consideration to the matterofthe registration of political parties.
2. A l though it appears that there are currently onlyoneor two political parties in Jersey, PPC nevertheless considers that it wouldbeappropriate to put in place a systemof registration to accommodate current parties and be available ifothersshouldemergeinthe future.
3. P P C believes that the system of registration should besimplebutalso sufficiently robust to guard against any abuse. The Committee believes that the system set out in this proposition meets both of these objectives.

2. W  h atis a politicalparty?

1. T h e Committee's research hasshown that the provisionson the registration of political parties in other jurisdictions almost all contain a requirement that the organisation concerned must have asone of its objectives the endorsementand support of candidates for elected political office.
2. T h e Committeebelieves that this is a logical proposaltoincorporate in theJersey system as, although registration as a political party will not bring any particular financial orother benefit, it would notbe appropriate to register organisations as political parties' if they hadno intention ofendorsing candidates for election to the States. It is for this reason that paragraph (a)(ii)(1) of this proposition requires parties to have this objective in their constitution. Furthermore paragraph (a)(vi) provides that any party that does not endorse any candidates for a continuousperiod of 5 years should be de-registered.
   3. H o w would theregistrationsystemwork in practice?

1. In the absence ofanElectoralCommission,electionsinJersey are currently overseenby the Royal Court with  the  Jurats appointed as  Returning  Officers  in  all  public  elections.  PPC believes  that  it would therefore be appropriate for the registration process to bemanagedby the RoyalCourt to avoid setting up an alternative and potentially expensive bureaucracy to deal with the applications, particular as the numberof applications is probably likely to very small for the foreseeable future. PPChasconsulted the Royal Court about this proposition and the Court has indicated that it would be willing toundertake the registration of political parties if this is the wish ofthe States.
2. T h e Royal Court already deals with applications for incorporation by charitable andother organisations underthe Loi (1862) sur les teneures en fidéicommis et l'incorporation d'associationswhichcould be said, insomeways, to be a similar process to the procedurebeing proposed for political parties.The Attorney Generalcurrentlychecks the constitutions of bodies seeking incorporation under the 1862 Loito ensure that they comply with the statutory provisions and it is likely that a similar checkingsystemwould need to beputinplacebeforean application for the registration of a party couldbe presented to the Court for approval.
3. A n y application for registration would need to include a copy of theparty's constitution and give details of its proposednametogether with any abbreviation of that name and the partyemblem.Thenamewould be limited to 6  words (as in the United Kingdom)to ensure that unnecessarily lengthy namescould not be used andso that the namecouldbe inserted on a ballot paper.The application for registration wouldneed to besignedbyat least 20 registered electors to ensure that the process of registration was only used by genuine parties with a certainnumberofsupporters. Details of the party's officials and a membership list would also need tobesuppliedwiththeapplication.Anappropriate registration fee would bepayable.
4. T h e Courtwouldbe able to refuse an application if theabove conditions were notmet and, as is the case in manyother jurisdictions, registration could also be refused if the proposed namewas the same as, or

very similar to, the name of another registered party. It would, for example, be impossible to register the Jersey

Socio-Democratic Party' if the Jersey Social Democratic Party' was already registered. In addition it is being proposed that any names that could be confused with other existing organisations could not be registered so that it would not, for example, be possible to register a party known as the Société Jersiaise Party'.

5. It will be importantfor it to be clear at all timeswho the registered officials of a party are and, for that reason, the registration system would require parties to notify the Court (in practice the Judicial Greffier) of any changesin these positions within 10 days ofanychange. In addition a full membershiplistwould need to be provided at least once every12 months. A public Register wouldbe maintained to allow the public to find details of registered parties.
6. T h e Court would be able tode-register a partyifitdid not comply with the requirement to maintain its details up to date or if it did not endorse any candidates for a continuous period of 5  years. These 2  requirements will ensure that parties that becamedormantor that did notcomply with the requirement to endorse candidates could notremainonthe Register indefinitely.

4. T h  e useofparty names on ballot papers

1. O n ce a proper system ofparty registration is in place it will be possible to allow candidates who are standing in an election on behalf of a particular party to have thenameof that party (or its approved abbreviation) entered on the ballot paperalongside their name. The Committeewishes to reassure all members that there is no intention to require candidateswho are not standingon behalf of a party to have anything other than theirname on the ballot paper (as at present) because it is felt that words such as Independent' may, inthemselves, carry someconnotation.
2. It will obviouslybe very important to ensure that a candidatewho purports to beendorsed by a party does,in fact, have that endorsement.Thesystem proposed is therefore that the nomination form for a candidate who wishes to standon behalf of a registered party will need tobecountersignedby 2 ofthe 3 registered officials of the party and appropriate checks will need to bemade to ensure that the persons countersigning the nomination are indeed the officials currently listed on the Register for the party concerned. Once a nominationhas been madein this way it will notbepossible,because of the time needed to printballot papers, for a candidate to changehisor her mind.

5. F i n ancialandmanpower implications

5.1 T h e Committee believes that the basic system of regulation can be managed within existing resources. There are therefore no additional financial or manpower implications.