The Committee has discussed inspection and control by an independent board which is established for the new system. The Committee has discussed whether the present Committee for distribution of state subsidies to the political parties should be maintained and can possibly carry out the task of being responsible for reporting in the proposed
system. However, the Committee is not in favour of this “since the body, according to the Committee’s proposal, will receive more, and more varied tasks.”
The Ministry is in favour of the reporting system for income accounts for the political parties and the system for publication of accounts shall be as efficient as possible for all parties, including being based on IT possibilities available at all times. The organisation is presumed to be in line with the proposal put forward by the Ministry of Government Administration and Reform’s proposal for reform policy for state administration in all other respects. The Ministry desires that public resources which are used for state party subsidies, shall benefit the parties to the greatest possible degree.
The Ministry assumes that there shall continue to be an independent board - hereinafter referred to as a Board - with responsibility for the arrangement, and that the Ministry (still) will be given a purely administrative function in relation this Board.
The Committee proposes that the Board shall be composed of a total of five persons, with the chairperson having judge competence..
The Ministry cannot see that any estimate with regard to the number of total man-labour years for the new Board has been given.
The Ministry points out that several of the tasks the Board is thought to perform, cannot be regarded as critical to the state party subsidy system functioning well - and better than at present. The Ministry has presented arguments above that withholding of state subsidies shall not be an ordinary sanction regarding the system. As mentioned in the previous chapter, it will be up to the Board to make decisions regarding withholding of subsidies in the cases where a recommendation for this comes from the Ministry, or the Board itself concludes that there are grounds for such withholding.
Concerning recommendations for the level of appropriations, such recommendations will be of limited use when the Ministry prepares budget proposals for its sector area. In that connection priorities must be set over a far greater range of considerations than such Board will be competent to have any opinions on, including general macroeconomic considerations and profiling desires by the Government. In other respects it will still be Parliament that finally decides the annual appropriations through Chap. 1530.
Neither can the Ministry see that viewed individually there will be a necessity for a separate Board to evaluate the amount limits in the new Party Act. Since nevertheless the Board is proposed set up, that could be one of its tasks.
The Ministry sees that there will still be a necessity for a Board to undertake the necessary exercise of discretion and interpretations as well as consider appeals with binding effect.
Further, the Board will be given the authority to make decisions concerning withholding of subsidies after a recommendation by the Ministry. However, the Ministry sees that there will be a necessity to extend the Board’s tasks in that the appeal authority for the Election Act is proposed included in the new Party Act, which is proposed handled and followed up by the independent Board.
The Ministry is in doubt as to whether the Committee’s proposal for a Board of five persons with the proposed work tasks, is practical. However, the Ministry is aware that the consideration of the Board members having political experience, as inter alia pointed out by several of the consultative bodies, can be relevant. A broad representation of different political interests can be difficult to achieve with a small Board. The Ministry has therefore chosen to pursue the Committee’s proposal regarding a new independent Board of five persons where the chairperson has judge competence and the other members are sought appointed among persons with broad political backgrounds. The Board shall be assigned the tasks proposed by the Ministry in this Act or in a separate Regulation.
The decision of allocation of support will be made by an administrative body (Ministry and County Governors) with a right of appeal to the Party Act Board. No preparations will be made for any form of preclusion of control by the courts of the Board’s decisions.
11 Comments to the individual provisions ofthe Bill
Chapter 1 Introductory provisions
Re. Section 1 Purpose and scope of the Act The provision draws up the scope of the Act and the various objectives that are sought to be served. The registration system for the political parties paves the way for the elections to be accomplished safely and democratically and in line with the objectives clause in Section 1-1 of the Election Act.The ramifications of the Act regarding the parties’ financial circumstances are contained in the rules which regulate the parties’ access to accept private contributions. As a whole the rules contribute to the political parties receiving sufficient resources to perform important core tasks for democracy.
The Act ensures the public’s democratic rights of inspection of who finances the different parties and who the party can be expected to be connected to. A requirement for transparency is given for the purpose of preventing relationships similar to corruption.
The second section contains the statutory basis for the King to issue a Regulation regarding the application of the law on Svalbard and lay down special rules taking into consideration the local circumstances. The present arrangement for support to political parties has not included Svalbard.
The third subsection lays down that Chapters 3 and 4 apply to parties that are registered in accordance with Chapter 2 of this Act. In addition to the party’s central organisation, this includes the party’s central youth organisation, county organisation, county youth organisation and municipal organisation. The latter organisations are referred to in the text of the Act as “party organisations”. The groups in Parliament, County Councils and Municipal Councils are not included in the Act.
Chapter 2 Registration of political parties
Re. Section 2 Registration authority. Effects of registration
The substantive content of the provision is identical with Section 5-1 of the current Election Act.
Re. Section 3 Conditions for registration of a party name in the Register of Political Parties The provision is identical to the provision in Section 5-2 of the current Election Act.
Amendments have been undertaken in accordance with Recommendation to the Odelsting No. 60 (2004-2005) from the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs.
Re. Section 4 Change of registered party name.
Merging of parties under a new name
The substantive content of the provision is identical with the provision in Section 5-3 of the current Election Act.
Re. Section 5 Deregistration. When a party name becomes free. The provision is identical with the provision in Section 5-4 of the current Election Act.
Re. Section 6 Information regarding who is on the Executive Board of the party
The provision is identical with the provision in Section 5-5 of the current Election Act.
Amendments have been undertaken in accordance with Recommendation to the Odelsting No. 60 (2004-2005).
Re. Section 7 Publication of decision
The provision is identical with the provision in Section 5-6 of the current Election Act.
Re. Section 8 Appeal
The provision corresponds to Section 5-7 of the current Election Act with adjustments and editorial changes. The Appeal Board according to the Election Act has been replaced with the Party Act Board which is appointed with the statutory basis in Chapter 5. Further rules regarding the appeal channels which at present are contained in Section 11 of the Election Regulation, have been included in this provision.
Re. Section 9 Regulation
The provision corresponds to Section 5-8 of the current Election Act. Since it has been
proposed to include the rules of the Election Regulation regarding appeal (Section 11 of the Regulation) in Section 8 of the Party Act, the statutory basis for the Regulation is limited to concern the registration system and the registration authority’s activity. Reference is also made to the statutory basis in Section 27 of the Regulation.