How political parties are created and when they can be banned

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. Any adult can freely found a political party, and joining or leaving one is voluntary. A party gains legal personality when it is registered in the Register of Political Parties of the Ministry of the Interior.
2. People convicted of illegal association or serious crimes under certain titles of the Criminal Code cannot be founding members, unless they have been rehabilitated. The party's name cannot be misleading, match another registered or outlawed party, or use people's names or trademarks.
3. Parties must be organized democratically: a general assembly holding the most important powers, leadership positions filled by free and secret ballot, member rights to vote, run for office, be informed and challenge decisions, and sanctions only through fair procedures.
4. A party can be declared illegal if its activity repeatedly and seriously violates democratic principles: for example, justifying attacks, promoting violence as a political method, or politically supporting terrorism. The party's overall activity is assessed, not just its stated ideas.
5. Only a court can dissolve or suspend a party. For serious violations of democratic principles, the special chamber of the Supreme Court decides, at the request of the Government or the Public Prosecutor, in a priority, single-instance proceeding. The ruling cannot be appealed, except through an amparo appeal to the Constitutional Court.
6. Once a party is dissolved, all its activity must stop, creating a new party that continues or succeeds it is presumed fraudulent, and its net assets go to social or humanitarian activities. Groups of voters that in fact succeed an outlawed party cannot run in elections.

Who it affects

• Citizens who want to found a party or join one: The law sets the requirements they must meet and the rights members have.
• Political parties: They must organize democratically and respect the Constitution and the laws, or they can be dissolved.
• The Government and the Public Prosecutor: They are the only ones who can ask the Supreme Court to outlaw a party.
• The Congress of Deputies and the Senate: They can urge the Government to request that a party be outlawed.
• Groups of voters: They cannot run in elections if they continue or succeed an outlawed party.

Words worth knowing

Personalidad jurídica (legal personality)

A party's ability to act as a subject with rights and obligations before the law, like a person.

Sala especial del Tribunal Supremo (special chamber of the Supreme Court)

Body made up of the Supreme Court president and judges from all its chambers; it hears cases to outlaw political parties.

Medida cautelar (interim measure)

A provisional court decision, such as suspending a party's activities, while the case is decided.

Recurso de amparo (amparo appeal)

An appeal to the Constitutional Court to protect fundamental rights.

Fraude de ley (fraud on the law)

Using a legal form to achieve a result the law forbids, such as creating a new party to continue a dissolved one's activity.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries