Panel assails ‘discriminatory’ political party accreditation in Bangsamoro region

COTABATO CITY – The requirement to have at least 10,000 members to register as a political party in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is prohibitive and discriminatory, an independent panel made up mostly of lawyers said.

The 10,000-member requirement will then be implemented on the third elections with presence in majority of the provinces constituting the Bangsamoro, provided that the party should have presence in at least one province from mainland Mindanao and one province from the island provinces. It further provides that every political party shall have established provincial and city chapters in all provinces and cities of BARMM, respectively, and municipal chapters in the majority of the municipalities comprising each province.

Those who signed the position paper are Atty. Benedicto Bacani, IAG executive director; former Acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra; Prof. Soraidah Ali, Dean of the College of Public Affairs of Mindanao State University; Atty. Luie Tito Guia, former COMELEC commissioner and senior lecturer at the La Salle University; Telibert Laoc, senior resident director for Elections and Civil Society Development for Asia; Atty. Emil Marañon, election lawyer and former COMELEC Chief of Staff; Atty.

“Requiring that a political party be established with at least 10,000 residents is an undue limitation that violates the right to form associations and the right to self-organize for purposes not contrary to law guaranteed under Section 8, Article III of the Constitution,” he said in a separate position paper.

During the inauguration of the second BTA last September 15 graced by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Interim Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim vowed to shepherd the passage of the electoral code “by the end of the year or the first quarter of 2023.”

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