Recommendation 15 (Parties and Candidates) Guinea Bissau 2008
http://aceproject.org/ero-en/regions/africa/GW/guinea-bissau-final-report-presidential-elections-2/at_download/file
Introduce efficient mechanisms regarding political party requirements verification. The law stipulates that parties are required, as part of their internal organization, to have the approval of their members, or of a representative assembly, of the party’s statutes and programmes. Party’s presidents are elected by the membership and statutes are nondiscriminatory. Party identification, symbol and flag are unique and not phonetically or graphically similar to state entities or symbols. Contesting political parties inform the Supreme Court of Justice, 90 days prior to legislative elections, on their number of members. Dissolution of parties, due to lack of a minimum of 1,000 members, is mandatory by law although not verified. In order to avoid the proliferation of political parties, the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) should have a stronger mandate and means to verify the compliance of legal requirements by the political parties. A STJ-designated task force could be formed in cooperation with the School of Law to analyse party requirements within the given timeframe of 90 days prior to polls, leaving the final decision to the Supreme Court plenary.