Council of State: planned rules for political parties go too far

The Council of State has criticised plans by D66 and GroenLinks-PvdA to bring in stricter rules for political parties, including banning those that breach them from standing in elections.

The government’s legal adviser said the sanctions were “too far-reaching” because the parties had not spelled out what rules political parties would have to comply with.

The idea was also backed by D66’s centre-right coalition partner, the Christian Democrats, when it was published last December.

Coalition party D66 and the left-wing opposition alliance GL-PvdA say parties fielding candidates in general elections should have a democratic structure, with members who have a say on lists of candidates and election manifestos. A supervisory body known as Napp would enforce the rules.

Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right PVV, accused D66 of “declaring war” on his party, which would fall foul of the rules because it has no members other than himself and no mechanism for replacing the leader or vetting its manifesto.

The Council of State (Raad van State) said another point in the plan, which would ban politicians who had been excluded from elections from standing with an independent list, was “too intrusive”.

It also criticised the proposal to give members the chance to amend the party’s manifesto every four years, arguing that it would be more logical to give them the chance before every election.