Article 7 of the draft amendments amends Article 17 of the Law and sets out the governing bodies of a political party as the congress, the council and the permanently functioning governing body. The council is now imposed by law as a third compulsory body of the political party. The congress (meeting, conference, assembly) is the highest governing body of a political part and shall be convened at least every three years. The council of a political party (board, presidency etc.) is described as the “body determining the strategy for the current activities of the political party”. The draft law clearly delineates the responsibilities and mandates of the bodies. However, in accordance to what has been stated in the 2019 OSCE/ODIHR Opinion and the 2016 Joint Opinion, the Law, also with the new proposals put forward in the draft Amendments, regulates decisions that should be left to the party to decide internally in a too detailed manner.23 For instance, the new Article 17 paras 6 and 8 appears to be too rigid. According to Article 17 para 6 (1) the Council “shall determine the main direction for current activities.” Parties should be able to decide autonomously how to allocate functions.
