Bill to tighten the law on banning political parties

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The bill, introduced by the Unión Progreso y Democracia group, would reform the Political Parties Law to stop illegal parties or parties that support terrorism from using legal tricks to run in elections.
2. It would amend Article 9.3(a) to state that repeatedly failing to condemn terrorism counts as tacit support and is enough to outlaw a party or deny its registration. An ambiguous or generic condemnation would not suffice, and a court ruling that a clear condemnation was enough would not erase other evidence against the party.
3. It would add a new paragraph (j) to Article 9.3: a party could be outlawed for spreading ideas that deny or justify terrorism, denying the criminal nature of its acts or claiming a supposed just cause.
4. It would reform Article 9.4 to detail what evidence counts: the party's documents and statements, public events, leaders' declarations, and sanctions and criminal convictions of its members. Statutes and programs would no longer be the only criterion, and politicians' silences could count as stances.
5. If passed, the law would take effect on the day of its publication in the Official State Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado).

Who it affects

• Political parties: They could be outlawed or denied registration for failing to condemn terrorism or for spreading denialism.
• Party leaders, candidates and members: Their acts, statements, silences, sanctions and criminal convictions would count as evidence against the party.
• Victims of terrorism: The bill seeks to prevent the legitimization and trivialization of terrorism and genocide.

Words worth knowing

Ley Orgánica (Organic Law)

A Spanish law reserved for major matters, such as fundamental rights, requiring stronger majorities to pass.

Ilegalización (outlawing of a party)

A court decision declaring a party illegal, barring it from operating and running in elections.

Prueba indiciaria (circumstantial evidence)

Evidence based on clues that, taken together, allow a conclusion without direct proof.

Proposición de Ley Orgánica

A bill introduced by a parliamentary group; in this case it has not been passed yet.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries