The House of Representatives adopted by majority, during a plenary session on Tuesday, the draft bill n° 10.21 amending and completing law 57.11 relating to the general electoral lists, the referendum operations and the use of public audiovisual media during electoral and referendum campaigns.
On this occasion, Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit explained that this bill aims to modify the current provisions in order to put in place a fixed and permanent legal framework determining the modalities for updating the electorate on the occasion of each general or partial election, relating to local, regional or legislative elections.
The bill contains provisions relating, on the one hand, to the procedure for the restricted revision of electoral lists ahead of local, regional or legislative by-elections, and, on the other hand, to the procedure which determines in detail the modalities of exceptional revision of the general electoral lists which must be organized in preparation for the general elections of members of the municipal or regional councils or of the House of Representatives.
To do this, and depending on the nature of elections (general or partial), the bill determines the dates and methods applied for updating the electorate, including the deadlines set for the submission of new registration requests, applications for transfer of registration and meetings of administrative committees, deposit of corrected tables, communication of committee decisions to the persons concerned, the deadline for filing appeals and decisions about them, in addition to the date of definitive finalization of the electoral lists.
In this context, and in connection with the preparations for the next general elections, the text provides for a period of 30 days for the registration of new voters and for the filing of applications for transfer of registration, added the Minister.
The text contains new provisions allowing young women and men, who obtained their IDs for the first time, to register in the general electoral lists.
To this end, the local administrative authority is required to call any young person who has obtained his/her ID for the first time and who is not registered in the aforementioned lists to submit his/her request for registration in the electoral list of the commune or the district of residence, noting that, to control this operation, the bill stipulates that the territorial services of the National Police will submit to the relevant provincial authority, the lists of people who have obtained their IDs for the first time.
In response to requests from political parties to repeal the provision prohibiting the use of certain national symbols in the election campaign, which in some cases leads to the cancellation of elections, this bill lifts the currently stipulated ban on the use of the national anthem and the official portrait of HM the King set up in the rooms hosting the meetings of electoral campaigns, said Laftit.
In addition, and at a proposal of the Committee on the Interior, Local Authorities, Housing and Urban Policy in the House of Representatives, the draft also stipulates the lifting of the ban on the use of national flag, he added.
In addition, the support fund to promote the representation of women, created in 2009, was opened to broaden its field of action. The aim is to support women’s representation during general local and legislative elections. It will now cover women working in different professional sectors, the minister concluded.
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