Changes to the law on political parties: more (and better) of the same...but still the same

Abstract

Since the Organic Constitutional Law on Political Parties came in to effect, it has under gone several changes; however, only the last two can be considered essential. These follow the proposals of the Engel Commission, and seek to democratize parties’ structure, bringing them closer to citizens and thus improving the quality of democracy.
The legal nature of political parties has been changed, since they are granted a public legal personality instead the private personality that they used to have; some changes in their role have been introduced, and the kind of mandate that the members of parliament have is also reformed, increasing parties’ relevance. Further more, parties are granted permanent public funding, although under the condition of accepting increased state intervention in their internal affairs.
Nevertheless, the new regulations do not consider new tendencies and the current questioning of traditional structures and conceptions. Political parties are still considered to be ideological mass organizations, and are still viewed with mistrust. Although regulation is improved by the changes, the paradigm underlying the law passed by the dictatorship has not changed.