The opposition political parties have revealed the points of disagreement in the Political Parties Act 2012 (Amendment) Bill 2022 which they say was controversially and irregularly passed into law by the national assembly on 30 May at the behest of Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba and the SPLM party majority in the house.

The opposition political parties who have representatives in the national assembly by virtue of their being signatories to the revitalized peace agreement rejected the alteration of certain clauses in the Political Parties Act.

The SPLM-IO, SSOA, and OPP have come out to protest and reject the amendments to the Act made by parliament and insist that the only body mandated to make changes to the parties’ law according to the peace agreement is the National Constitutional Amendment Committee (NCAC).

Parliamentarian Albino Akol Atak, a leading member of the OPP, told Radio Tamazuj that the national parliament violated the provisions of the peace agreement by making amendments to the Political Parties Act, noting that the peace agreement stipulates that the NCAC shall make amendments in all laws and that parliament must pass them without changes. He said that what happened in Parliament on 30 May violated the revitalized peace agreement.

“The most prominent points of disagreement regarding the Political Parties Act were; the number of members per state for the registration of a political party, the right of minorities to political parties, the financing of political parties, and the independence of the Political Parties Commission,” he says.

Atak explained that one of the amendments made by the NCAC to the Political Parties Act was to reduce the number of party members to register a political party from 500 to 300 in each state and administrative area but the national parliament amended the law to return to the 2012 law which requires 500 members to register a political party.

“With regard to the right of minorities in the Political Parties Commission, the parliamentary committee deleted the ‘minorities’ paragraph from the law,” he added. “The law amended by the NCAC stipulated the right of minorities within the parties but the paragraph was deleted by the parliamentary committee based on the fact that there are no so-called minorities in the country.”

According to the parliamentarian, the third point of departure is related to the financing of political parties and he said that the NCAC amendment stipulated the financing of political parties before and after the elections but that the parliamentary committee deleted the clause about financing political parties before the elections.

Atak said the fourth point of contention is related to the independence of the Political Parties Commission, noting that the text of the independence of political parties contained in the amended law is not clear and needs interpretation and amendments.

“The law is still in parliament and the president has not signed it. So, there is an opportunity to make amendments to it because we only want proper voting procedures for all members of parliament,” Atak said. “The Political Parties Act is vital and has to be in line with the implementation of the peace agreement and it must be done by consensus between the parties or voting in parliament to ensure the vote of two-thirds of the parliamentarians.”

He added: “The speaker of parliament announced the passage of the law after giving only 20 parliamentarians to speak during the discussions on the law.”

Atak castigated Speaker Kumba for silencing parliamentarians who were opposed to the house tampering with the amendments made by the NCAC to the Political Parties Act (Amendment) Bill.

“Out of 20 opportunities for MPs to speak during the debate, 14 of them were for SPLM members in the government and 6 for other parties to the agreement,” he said.

On Monday, the SPLM-IO parliamentary caucus boycotted Monday’s sitting over what they described as the alteration of the Political Parties Act (Amendment) Bill 2022 that was passed in late May.

The SPLM-IO, in their press statement issued to the media on Monday, stated that Transitional National Legislative Assembly in its ordinary sitting No.9/2022 passed the Political Parties Act (Amendment Bill) 2022 without consensus and in contravention of the revitalized peace agreement.

Consequently, the SPLM-IO said they and the Other Political Parties (OPP) parliamentary caucuses wrote to Speaker Kumba on 31 May objecting to the alterations in the Bill by the house but the speaker did not respond to their letter. The lack of a reply from the speaker prompted the SPLM-IO parliamentary caucuses to stage a boycott of parliamentary sittings, the opposition outfit said.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Akot, the acting spokesperson for the National Democratic Movement (NDM), said that the time period set by the amended law for the year 2022 which is ten months, indicates the intention of the SPLM to extend the transitional period.

“This means that there are ten months until April 2023 and the agreement stipulates that elections will be held on 22 December 2022,” he said. “This is a clear indication that the SPLM in the government and the SPLM in the opposition are planning to extend the transitional period.”

NDM said in a statement last week that the goal of the Political Parties Act is to regulate the work of parties and not to obstruct it, as SPLM in government believes.

Journalist and political analyst, Atim Simon Mbior, said, the Political Parties Act is supposed to contribute to the process of democratic transition.

"If the parties to the peace agreement want peace, the political parties’ law contributes to the process of democratic transition by holding acceptable elections that end the period of the agreement and the ongoing wars and handing over power through ballot boxes,” he said.

According to Atim, most political parties in the country do not have much clout and only come to the table as a result of peace agreements.

“These parties share power and it has not happened that their general conferences have been held, nor has there been a pattern of power transfer within them,” he said. “According to the Political Parties Act, these parties will be organized.”

Atem suggests that in the near future, political parties can form alliances and establish one a larger political entity that will have a presence in all states.

“The Political Parties Act can lead to a major transformation in the political processes provided that the country has 4 to 5 political parties through alliances,” he said.