The Marmot’s Hole

With all this talk these days about folks leaving , creating and merging parties, a commenter sensibly asked: how many folks it would take to legally create a party?  That is a good question indeed.

SHORT ANSWER:  5,000 (or 1,000 if you only want a local party).

LONG ANSWER:  A quick search at the National Election Commission gives us this handy little document (pdf) on parties.

The first step in making a party is the creation of a Preparatory Committee (PrepComm has a Kennedyesque ring to it, so let’s use that.).    The national PrepComm needs only 20 members to get the ball rolling although it functionally needs at least 50 if it is to become a real party down the road (as we will soon see).

For the national PrepComm to become a full party it must organize at least five recognized city or provincial parties within sixth months of the PrepComm’s formation.  For a city/provincial party to be officially recognized, it must first form a local PrepComm with a least ten members.  It must then gather at least 1,000 local residents as members.  This is not a matter of registration since voter rolls are maintained using the ubiquitous family census registry.  People must sign up (and pay dues) to be party members.

So a political party must have at least 1,000 members each in five different parts of the country to be legally recognized.

BTW, for the party to be a floor negotiating group in the National Assembly (and be able to introduce legislation), it must have at least 20* assemblymen as members.

*(I read that somewhere but am open to correction.)