The Law and Human Rights Ministry will begin verifying 14 new political parties on Tuesday, ministry state administration director Asyarie Syihabudin said on Monday. “We have formed teams, each consisting of six ministry officials to be deployed to check the parties’ preparedness as general elections contestants,” he said.
The verification processes, which would see whether the parties’ administrative, human and physical resources have met the requirements set by the 2011 Political Party Law, will be conducted until Sep. 20, Asyarie said. The law, for example, requires all parties to maintain offices in all 33 provinces, 75 percent of the cities and regencies in each province and 50 percent of the districts in each city and regency.
According to the law, new political parties must undergo verification processes conducted by the ministry and the General Elections Commission (KPU) to be declared eligible to run in the 2014 general elections.
While the ministry will only check new political parties, the KPU will verify all established parties, including those without seats in the House of Representatives.
Asyari said the verification teams will visit the parties’ offices down to city and regency levels. “We will also see if their organizational structures comply with the law,” he said.
Since the registration for new parties was opened in January, as many as 14 new political parties have completed their applications with the ministry.
Among those are some formed by splinter groups fractured from existing parties, such as the National Archipelago Prosperity Party, whose members were formerly National Awakening Party politicians and the Nasdem Party, which has been funded by former Golkar Party senior patron Surya Paloh.
Full Article: Govt set to verify 14 new political parties | The Jakarta Post.