John Akoon
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. There seems to be no let-up between the Political Parties Council and a group of opposition parties seeking to have the $50,000 fee for registration reduced.
In the wake of the approaching deadline for registration, each side has stuck to their guns, with the registrar justifying why it is charging the amount while parties are exploring ways of forcing a figure deemed affordable.
On Thursday, the chairperson of the PPC, James Akol, told The City Review in an exclusive interview that the law requires any political party aiming to participate in an election to register within 180 days prior election.
“The law says that political parties that want to participate in the election must be registered 180 days before an election,” Akol said.
According to the PPC chairperson, within 180 days, as the law requires, you can be registered as long as the party meets all the requirements.
Going by this interpretation, the parties are required to have registered by June 2024 if they are to compete in the election slated for December 2024.
But Akol maintained that once parties initiate the registration process, they are allowed to complete it even after less than 180 days to the polls as stipulated in the law.
The chairperson of the Coalition of Opposition Parties (COOP), Gai Chol, said the main concern of the parties is the registration fees they find so high and not the timeline for registration.
“We are in a battle with the council let alone the registration of political parties. There are no regulations at the council that show ways forward for registration even if the fees are not yet agreed by the parties,” Gai said.
According to Gai, COOP is still waiting for official communication from the office of the political parties’ registrar, and if it is not favourable, the coalition will take additional steps.
“We have petitioned the council, and if they cannot reply in the second week of April, we are going to take the next steps to fight this move.”
“The issues of registrations or two months before the election are lies. There is nothing like that. It is their timeline. For us, we have not yet agreed with it,” he added.
He claimed that the council never met to pass the regulation, blaming the chairperson for bringing out a regulation that was not in the documents.
“They are just moving up and down. The council itself has not yet passed the regulations; it is only the chairman doing all the things on his head. They are not even in the paper.”
He further claimed that the regulations that were to guide the registrations were not yet validated and agreed upon by the political parties.
“There is no registration now, we have to bring the regulation first. Regulations are supposed to be validated by the political parties forum, and then if they are agreed, and then we passed them,” he said.
“The same to the fees, they need to be discussed by the political forum and taken to the parliament for approval and then this is what will be done,” Gai said.
“It is not one man’s decision that you can design and move around. It is not acceptable.”
Just last week, the coalition of fourteen opposition political parties staged a protest and petitioned the chairperson of the political parties council for over $50,000, which they said was “ unfordable and unrealistic.”
However, the chairperson of the political parties’ council defended the registration of provisional licenses fees, breaking the process into five stages that consists of five costs that should be paid at the central bank if the parties want to pay in US Dollars.
“If you add the five fees, the total cost will be $ 50,000 at the applicable rate of the Central Bank or payable in South Sudanese pounds (SSP),” Akol said, as quoted by The City Review on Wednesday.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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