| |
No. 57 - April 23, 2001
The Party-List: Backdoor To Congress
During the first party-list elections of 11 May 1998, the
Commission on Elections (COMELEC) accredited 122 sectoral
representatives. For the 14 May 2001 elections, voters will
have to choose one from among 162 party-list groups eyeing
to get a maximum of three seats in Congress.
RA 7941 (The Party-List System Act) was enacted
on 3 March 1995 to implement Section 5, Article VI of the
1987 Constitution. It provides that 20% (53 seats) of the
total membership of the House of Representatives should be
elected through the party-list system - commonly known as
sectoral representatives. A party-list candidate should get
at least two percent (2%) of the total votes cast for the
party-list system to qualify for one seat. Consequently, garnering
four percent (4%) of the votes mean two seats; and six percent
(6%), three seats.
Accredited party-lists this year are dominated
by organizations/coalitions (78), followed by political parties
(26), and professionals (13). The other sectors are the urban
poor (8), labor (6), peasant (6), youth (5), and overseas
workers (5). Sectors having the least representation are the
indigenous cultural communities (4), veterans (3), fisherfolks
(2), elderly (2), handicapped (2), and women (2). A number
of people are worried because many of the accredited groups
do not belong to the marginalized or underrepresented sectors.
There are, however, provisions in the Party-List
System Act that gives COMELEC the power to refuse or cancel
the registration of a particular group seeking a seat in Congress.
Grounds for cancellation or refusal of registration are: 1)
it is a religious group or sect; 2) it advocates violence
or unlawful means to seek its goal; 3) it is a foreign party;
4) it receives direct or indirect support from a foreign government,
political party, or foundation; 5) it violates election-related
laws; 6) it declares untruthful statements in its petition;
7) it has ceased to exist for at least one year; and 8) it
fails to obtain at least two percent (2%) of the votes cast
under the partly-list system in the two preceding elections
for the constituency in which it has registered.
In the spirit
of transparency in governance, attached is the list of party
list representatives including their first three nominees.
MORE
>>
|
CongressWatch
Report Archive
|
