Belen Gil Orantos |
Madrid (EFE).- Presenting yourself to the elections through a political party is not as easy as it might seem, although many are tempted when the elections approach. A reform of the electoral law in 2011 tightened the requirements.
The advancement of the general elections to July has not only forced the parties to alter their strategies and keep the electoral machinery active, it has also accelerated the plans of those who had December as their goal to enter the political scene.
Confirmed long ago was the decision of the leader of the Sumar platform, Yolanda Díaz, to stand in the elections with a new party to amalgamate the left. More doubtful were the intentions of the former deputy and Vox candidate in Andalusia, Macarena Olona.
Just one day after Pedro Sánchez announced the elections for July 23, Díaz hurried to request the registration of the Sumar Movement at the Ministry of the Interior; Olona took two with Caminando Juntos.
But why so much haste?
Being in the Registry of the Ministry, the only one at the national level, is the first step to be able to run for elections. It allows political parties to acquire legal personality, that is, to make their birth and constitution public.
To do this, three or more natural persons of legal age must present, in addition to the registration application document, the notarial deed with the constitution agreement, members of the governing bodies and statutes by which the training will be governed.
Within a maximum period of 20 days, Interior will examine the application and register the new party, provided that the documentation is complete. Currently, there are 4,470 parties in Spain, 599 more than in the last general ones. So far this year, 244 new ones have been registered.
Will we have to choose between 4,470 games on 23J?
No. Being in the registry does not automatically give you a pass to the elections. It is the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG) and its 2011 reform that establishes which formations can present candidacies for Congress and the Senate.
Parties, as well as coalitions and federations, that did not achieve representation in the previous general elections need the signature of at least 0.1 percent of the voters registered in the electoral roll of the constituency for which they intend to be elected. , which means 37,000 signatures for a candidacy that intends to do it throughout the country
If it were a group of voters, the percentage of citizen endorsements stands at 1%.
The signatures must be from citizens with Spanish nationality, handwritten and original, and must be collected within twenty days from the announcement of the elections.
I have the guarantees, now what?
Faced with the challenge of obtaining sufficient endorsements, the new parties have another handicap to stand in the elections. Who pays the expenses of the campaign?
According to the law on the financing of political parties, the State only gives economic resources to formations that have representation in proportion to the results of the last elections.
The same occurs with the presence in the publicly owned media. They will only have minutes on RNE and those that had representation will appear on TVE.
If the new parties finally pass all the requirements, for the general elections on July 23 they will only need one last step: to formalize their candidacies before the electoral boards between June 14 and 19, the same period as for the rest of the political formations.