Sudan’s Political Parties Affairs Council (PPAC) has officially declined to register the Republican Party (RP), saying the latter’s principles contradict with the Islamic creed, social peace and democratic principles necessary for carrying out political activity.
The PPAC said the RP’s registration request violated provisions of Article (1/5) of the 2005 interim constitution and Article (14) of the 2007 Political Parties’ Act.
However, lawyer Nabil Adeeb described the PPAC’s citing of Article (1/5) of the constitution as “strange” and “funny”, saying the clause talks about sources of laws and it is directed at the legislative body.
He added that Article (14) is related to violence and has nothing to do with the RP principles.
Last December, the RP applied with the PPAC in order to obtain the right for practicing political activity. However, several individuals and associations appealed to the PPAC against RP registration.
RP founder Mahmoud Mohamed Taha was a progressive Sudanese religious thinker, leader and trained engineer. He was executed for apostasy in 1985 at the age of 76 by the regime of Ja’afar Nimeiri. Since then the RP political activity has steadily receded despite an increase in the number of its supporters and affiliates in recent years.
The daughter of the RP’s founder, Asma, accused unnamed influential bodies of pressuring the PPAC to reject their registration request under the pretext that the RP’s principles contradict with the Islamic creed and are based on sectarian lines.
She described the PPAC decision as “defective” in every respect, saying it represents a restriction on freedoms of expression and organisation which are guaranteed by the constitution and the political parties’ law.
Asma pledged to resist the PPAC’s decision by all legal means.
Last April, Asma accused what she called “obscurantist forces” of labelling RP members as “apostates and infidels” in order to ban their activities.
Source/Fuente: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article50911
