Islamic Party still has long way to go to be officially registered

Signatures collected in kebab restaurants and shops

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An initiative for the formation of a Finnish Islamic Party, which began in the autumn, still has a long way to go to get the signatures that it needs to be entered into the register of political parties maintained by the Ministry of Justice.
      The chairman of the would-be party, Abdullah Tammi, says that "a few hundred" cards signed by citizens who favour the establishment of an Islamic party have been collected so far. To be registered as a political party, an organisation has to gather the signed endorsements of 5,000 supporters for the approval of the Ministry of Justice.
      Tammi says that signatures have been gathered in cafes, kebab restaurants, and shops.
     
Although it is not yet officially registered as a political party, the Islamic Party already has many activities.
      Tammi says that last week it held a meeting of its party executive to prepare its political platform and its goals for the upcoming municipal elections. The programmes will be made public in February.
      If it does not succeed in getting enough signatures to be registered as a political party, it hopes to take part in the elections in the form of alliances of individual independent candidates.
      Arto Jääskeläinen, director of elections at the Ministry of Justice, says that parties that hope to be registered in time for the municipal elections in October should have their applications ready in August.
      In addition to the eight parties in Parliament, the party register includes four other groups - the Finnish Communist Party, the Finnish Senior Party, the Communist Labour Party, and the Finnish Labour Party.
      The last of these was dropped from the party register after failing to win seats in Parliamentary elections last spring. However, it was let back in later in the year after getting the necessary 5,000 signatures. Seven other parties were also dropped from the register. Some of them are expected to try to regain official party status this year.


Links:
  Moves made to establish Islamic party in Finland (7.9.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat