The Venice Commission makes the following main recommendations. At the same time, it should be noted that the other recommendations and suggestions made throughout the text (identified in italics) are also important; they are intended, as a whole, to align Tunisia’s legal framework for political parties and their funding more closely with Council of Europe and other international human rights standards, and with the recommendations in previous opinions of the Venice Commission:

1. guarantee, in Article 1 of the draft law, the freedom not only to form political parties, but also to join them and conduct activities within them, and to add the principle of proportionality and necessity in a democratic society with regard to the permitted restrictions of this freedom [paragraph 18];


2. introduce shorter deadlines for deciding on applications for the registration of political parties, and on appeals against refusals to register, in order that expeditious decisions are ensured [paragraph 27];


3. amend Article 36 of the draft law to ensure that the identity of donors is not made public, but only to the supervisory body, in the case of clearly defined small donations [paragraph 41];


4. with regard to the annual public funding of political parties not represented in Parliament, revise Article 38 of the draft law so that the method of calculating the amount of the payment and the number of votes to be obtained for it to be payable are defined in the law itself [paragraph 46];


5. strengthen the system for the financial oversight of political parties. The Court of Auditors, or another designated, independent and impartial body with sufficient resources, should have terms of reference, appropriate powers and a clearly defined obligation to check the financial statements of political parties, verify the accuracy of the information submitted, investigate any irregularities and be given enhanced powers to ensure co-ordination with law enforcement agencies and other relevant bodies [paragraph 58];


6. review the sanctions system. Among other things, it should be ensured that

- the dissolution of political parties is limited to cases where they advocate the use of violence or use it as a political means to overthrow the democratic constitutional order,

- in the event of less serious irregularities, less severe penalties such as warnings or small fines are applicable before moving on to the most severe penalties,

- in any event, even before a warning is officially issued, the party should be able to request clarification of the alleged violation and to correct irregularities, and

- all provisions be worded in such a way as to include the concept of proportional penalties. It is also recommended that further thought be given to the powers to impose sanctions on political parties and that it be verified whether these powers could be attributed to the Court of Auditors, in particular taking constitutional law into account [paragraphs 63, 64 and 67].