Libro Dos · Título Dos Capítulo Cuatro. Comités para la Constitución de un Partido Político

Any group that brings together more than two percent (2%) of the minimum number of citizens required for the formation of a political party, who know how to read and write, may organize as a committee for the formation of a political party, in accordance with this law.

For that purpose and as an initial step, the group shall elect a Provisional Board of Directors of the committee, formed by a minimum of nine of them, which election shall be recorded in a Notarial Record, which shall be submitted to the Register of Citizens for its registration. The function of said Provisional Board of Directors shall be to prepare and complete all documentation necessary for the execution of the constitutive deed of the committee, which deed shall be authorized within the three months following the date on which the provisional Board of Directors was registered; otherwise, the cancellation of the procedure and the archiving of the file shall proceed.

The formation of a committee for the organization of a political party shall be formalized in a public deed, which shall contain the following requirements:

a)Personal appearance of the majority of the members of the promoter group, who shall exhibit the personal identification document of each of them, with the electoral registration number being recorded.

b)The name, emblem or symbol that shall identify the party to be constituted.

c)The declaration of principles that shall govern the political party to be formed and that shall contain at a minimum:

1)The obligation to observe and respect the laws of the Republic.

2)“The philosophy that constitutes the ideological foundation on which it shall develop the economic, political, social, cultural, ethnic and gender program that it shall offer to the citizenry.”

3)The oath to develop its activities by peaceful means, by democratic means and respecting the rights of the other political organizations within a pluralist spirit.

4)The oath of respect for all democratic expression and particularly for those that occur internally for the integration of its organs and the free and democratic selection of its candidates for offices of popular election, in accordance with the law and the party statutes.

d)Draft of the statutes of the political party to be constituted.

e)The composition of the Board of Directors of the committee, specifying the names of those who form it and the positions they shall hold; all in accordance with the provisions of Article 31 of this law.

f)The clear and express statement that it proposes to constitute a political party.

g)The designation of its special legal representative, for the registration proceedings of the committee.

h)The indication of its provisional seat.”

Congress of the Republic on 25-05-2016.

The provisions of this law governing the Secretary General and National Executive Committee of political parties shall be applicable to the boards of directors of the committees for the formation of political parties.

The registration of a committee for the formation of a political party shall be requested in writing to the Register of Citizens, within the time limit of thirty days following the date of its constitutive deed, attaching a certified copy thereof.

If the aforementioned certified copy is not submitted, the proceeding shall be deemed concluded.

If the deed meets all legal requirements and the request was filed on time, the Director of the Register of Citizens shall, within a period of eight days, resolve it favorably and order the registration of the committee.

Appeals. If, with the opinion of the Department of Political Organizations, the Director of the Citizens' Register determines that the constitutive deed of the committee does not comply with legal norms, he shall issue, within the same time limit stipulated in the preceding Article, a reasoned decision denying registration and precisely indicating the defects from which it suffers and setting a time limit of thirty days for submission of a certified copy of the public deed containing the extension, modification or clarification by which the indicated defects are remedied. Against said decision, an appeal lies in the terms indicated by this law.

If the promoting group submits to the Citizens' Register, within the time limit of thirty days following notification of the denying decision or of the one deciding the appeal, as applicable, a certified copy of the public deed in which the constitutive deed of the committee is modified, clarified or extended in the manner required by the Director of the Register or by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the Director of the Registry shall reexamine the application and issue a new decision within a time limit of eight days.

Once the denying decision is final or the time limit set in the preceding paragraph for submission of the certified copy of the deed of modification, clarification or extension has expired, without said certified copy having been received, the Director of the Citizens' Register shall order the file to be archived.

The registration of a committee for the formation of a political party grants it legal personality, for the exclusive purpose of achieving that end. The committee shall not identify itself as a political party, nor shall it have the rights thereof.

The registration of a committee for the formation of a political party shall remain in force for two non-extendable years and shall cease to have effect:

a)Upon expiry of said time limit, unless the deed of formation of the political party has already been executed.

b)For failure to comply with the laws on electoral matters.

c)If for any cause the number of members of the promoter group is reduced below the minimum established in this law. For the determination of that number, account shall be taken not only of withdrawals but also of admissions of new members to the promoter group; or,

d)Upon being definitively registered as a political party.

Every committee for the formation of a political party, once registered in the Register of Citizens, shall have the right to have the latter provide it, upon its request, with sufficient adhesion sheets duly numbered and authorized.

The adhesion sheets shall be required solely for the registration of the political party; they may be individual or collective, but in the latter case they may not contain space for more than ten signatures. In this regard, each committee shall designate a responsible person to obtain and verify the veracity of the data of each citizen who expresses their intention to adhere. The adhesion sheets shall contain the full first and last names of each adherent, the number of their personal identification document and that of their registration as a citizen, as well as their handwritten signature or fingerprint impression if the citizen is illiterate.

Likewise, it shall clearly indicate that its signatories grant their adhesion to the committee for the formation of the political party in question and that they accept to be affiliates of said party when it obtains its registration in the Register. In this sense, each adhesion sheet shall be headed by a sworn statement of the citizen designated as responsible therefor, which shall bear their signature legalized by a Notary.

For these cases, exemption from payment for fiscal and notarial stamps is granted.

Anomalies. The committee for the formation of a political party may deliver to the Register of Citizens duly completed and legalized adhesion sheets in accordance with the preceding article as it obtains them, even when they represent only a part of the minimum number of required affiliates. Upon receipt of each adhesion sheet, a photocopy thereof, duly stamped as received, shall be delivered to the committee; and the Director shall order that reports be immediately obtained from the relevant departments of the Register of Citizens to confirm the truthfulness and accuracy of the information contained in each of them; the Register of Citizens shall purge them within a time limit of fifteen days counted from the date of their presentation.

If from the examination conducted it should result that any adhesion sheet contains false data or anomalies of any nature, the matter shall immediately be brought to the knowledge of the Inspector General and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal so that the pertinent actions may be taken against those found liable, or the expansion, clarification or rectification of the anomalous data may be ordered.

The constitutive deed of a committee for the formation of a political party may be modified at any time, before the formalization of the notarial instrument by means of which the party is to be constituted, fulfilling the formalities indicated in Article 52 of this law.

Once the Register has purged the adhesion sheets submitted to it by a committee in accordance with Article 60 of this law and provided that the total number of adherents who can read and write reaches the number required by subparagraph a) of Article 19 of this law for the formation of a political party, the Register of Citizens shall communicate it to the respective committee and shall require it, before the expiry of the time limit indicated in Article 58 of this law, to submit to it the necessary documentation and to request the registration of the political party. Such decision shall be notified to the legal representative of the committee.