Registry conducts meet on party laws

THE Registry of Political Parties is conducting a week-long public consultation in Lae, Morobe, on the revised Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC).
Legal manager Kennedy Pais said the consultation was to get the peoples’ views and to help the general public understand certain aspects of the law.
OLIPPAC was passed in 2001, amended in 2002 and later revised in 2012. The amendments that have been proposed for the changes to the OLIPPAC (in 2012) has never been passed in Parliament to date.
“The law is basically to bring political stability in our system of government,” Pais said.
“Before 2001, there was no strong party system, constant vote of no confidence were moved any time, thus the general instability in the political system.
“Until the law was passed and legislated in 2001, we saw the first government led by the National Alliance, survive for a full five years term, and was able to achieve some of their party policies.”
Pais said this was the third consultation for Papua New Guineans to give their views of how the law should be.
He said OLIPPAC ensured political parties take prominence and to make political parties more accountable to the people through policies.
“Only political parties can make policies and bring laws into place through their numbers, individuals cannot do that because they have their own agendas,” he said.
“We have the OLIPPAC in place to bring political stability and to deliver policies to the people.
“Currently, there are 45 registered political parties in PNG. The major parties include People’s National Congress, National Alliance and United Resource Party.”