Labour Party registers with the Electoral Commission

The Labour Party has submitted its registration form to the Electoral Commission, a step that will also see Labour as the first political party to be registered with the commission.

This is the first time that political parties and movements are being registered, following the enactment of the party financing law.

The application was submitted by PL president Daniel Micallef, secretary of the national executive Lydia Abela and PL vice-president Louis Gatt.

#Labour Party writes history, again, as it registers itself under new Party Financing Law. Others speak about transparency- we act+deliver.

— Owen Bonnici (@OwenBonnici) June 3, 2016

In a statement, the Labour Party said it wanted to conform to the law as soon as possible. Micallef went on to add that the Labour Party had always published its accounts, even though this had not been a legal requirement.

Chief Electoral Commissioner Joseph Church admitted that this was a new process for the commission as well.

The party financing law was approved by parliament last year and came into force this year. As a result of its enactment, the Council of Europe Committee on the Prevention of Corruption (GRECO) expressed satisfaction at the decision taken by the legislators. It however warned that more needs to be done by political parties to increase transparency.