Burundi's Senate passes draft law on political parties

JAR

BUJUMBURA (JAR) -- The Burundian Senate on Thursday passed the new draft law on political parties with only one abstention out of the 37 members.
All voted for the new draft law except Burundi's former president Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, who abstained arguing that there are many unclear provisions in the draft law which can impact on the setting up of the institutions.
"Forbidding formation of coalitions of political parties during an electoral period can have a bad impact on the setting up of institutions because the national constitution allows coalitions while the new draft law on political parties prevents them. However, the fundamental law is the national constitution," Ntibantunganya told reporters.
He also said Article 84 of the new draft law on political parties providing funding political parties should be clearly written because it is essential to finance electoral campaigns of political parties.
Ntibantunganya said, "I suggested an amendment on Article 84 on funding political parties especially during electoral campaigns because it's essential during that time since parties don't have equal financial means, but my amendment was rejected."
Senator Ntibantunganya also said amendments on illicit enrichment of political parties should be made clear.
He is a member of the Front pour la Democratie au Burundi (Sahwanya-FRODEBU), an opposition party which pulled out of the 2010 electoral process after opposition parties denounced fraud in the May 24 communal elections, the first in a series of five polls.
He however kept his seat at the Burundian Senate because the national constitution provides that former heads of state automatically become lifetime senators.
The Burundian parliament's Lower Chamber, the National Assembly, had unanimously passed the new draft law on Monday.
On Tuesday, the Burundian opposition regrouped in the Democrats' Alliance for Change (ADC-Ikibiri) said the new draft law on political parties lags behind in Burundi and urged the Senate to reject the draft law.
ADC-Ikibiri Chairman Zedi Feruzi said the new draft law lags behind because the new draft law urges every party to provide a list of 100 founder members per province to be registered at the Home Affairs Ministry.
According to Feruzi, this would mean a new registration while the parties already exist.
The new draft law comes to replace the 2003 law on political parties which urged each political party applying for registration to provide a list of six persons at the provincial level.
As both chambers of the Burundian Parliament have passed the new draft law on political parties, amendments will be included in the draft law which will be promulgated by the head of state before it goes into force.
In Burundi, there are 43 registered parties and only three of them are represented in the parliament.
Parties are required to comply with changes provided in the new draft law no later than six months after the head of state's law promulgation.