End of the game

Rosregistration continues to clear the political field of “extra” players

Eight political parties did not comply with legal requirements and did not confirm the presence of the required number of their supporters. Alexey Zhafyarov, head of the department for political parties, registration of religious public and other organizations of the Federal Registration Service (Rosregistration), announced this at a press conference on Friday. At the moment, out of 35 parties that existed in Russia as of January 1, 2006, only nine confirmed the required number, ten could not confirm, and another 16 must be confirmed. The verification will most likely be completed by the end of November of this year.

Until January 1, 2006, political parties had to submit documents on their numbers to the Ministry of Justice. The new law “On Political Parties” raised the mandatory number of parties from ten to 50 thousand. In addition, the party must have at least 45 regional branches with at least 500 registered members. Checks the compliance of party activities with the law of 77 territorial bodies of Rosregistration - some cover several entities, usually complex ones. Each department receives a plan for checking political parties. In accordance with this plan, branches of those parties that are registered in this region will be checked. The parties are notified on the eve of the start of the inspection.

According to Alexei Zhafyarov, the Entrepreneurship Development Party, the Russian Peace Party, the Freedom and Democracy Party, the Russian Party of Communists, the People's Patriotic Party of Russia, the Conceptual Party "Unity", the People's Republican Party, the Regional Development Party "Nature and society". Previously, the SLON party and the Russian Constitutional Democratic Party failed to fulfill the requirement of the law.

At the same time, the audit showed that the Peace and Unity party of Sazha Umalatova complies with the requirements of the law, the number of the organization is more than 57 thousand people. The Russian Party of Pensioners, whose number was confirmed to be 97 thousand people, was also tested. Prior to this, all parliamentary parties “United Russia”, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party, “Rodina”, as well as “Yabloko”, SPS and “Patriots of Russia” were successfully tested.

The Federal Registration Service (“Rosregistration”) plans to conduct party audits on a regular basis, including during election years. “We can check parties on a regular basis - this has nothing to do with the elections, one has nothing to do with the other,” Mr. Zhafyarov explained. He recalled that inspections of political parties took place in 2003, 2005, 2006, and did not rule out that they would continue in 2007. Answering the question of what will happen if a party is already taking part in elections, undergoing a check at the same time, and after voting it turns out that it does not meet any legal requirements, Alexey Zhafyarov assured that “this will not have legal consequences from the point of view of election perspective."

Parties that have not confirmed the number of 50 thousand people, by law, must, by January 1, 2007, independently decide whether to transform into an all-Russian social movement or to dissolve themselves. If this does not happen, Rosregistration will have the right to go to court with a claim to liquidate such parties.

Daria GUSEVA