B. General Remarks

The drafters and stakeholders involved in preparing the draft Act are thus to be commended for their attempts to remedy this situation; in particular, the draft Act clearly tries to take into consideration key international standards by establishing a legal framework for party and campaign finance, outlining contribution and expenditure limits, establishing an oversight body and a system of sanctions, and should be commended for the clear language of its provisions. Furthermore, the draft Act contains specific commitments to human rights principles in its general Part 1, which embodies freedom of association principles, and includes a ban on discriminatory actions (Article 6). At the same time, it is noted that this principle mentions only a few grounds of discrimination, while key international standards, notably Article 14 of the ECHR, also mention grounds such as a person’s colour, language, religion (or belief), national origin, association with a national minority, and birth. Consideration may be given to expanding the ban on discrimination in Article 6 par 2 accordingly.