The Elections Commission has established a system allowing general members of political parties to leave their parties instantly, effective from today. Previously, a member would be removed from a party’s register within 14 days after submitting a request through the Commission’s portal. However, the Commission says this change has been introduced to make registration and withdrawal from political parties easier.

Under the new rules, political parties must process registration requests submitted through the main portal within 30 days. If a party does not process the request within this period, the individual will be automatically registered with the party. Requests to leave a party will be completed instantly.

However, members holding leadership positions in parties registered with the Commission must first submit a request to resign from their positions if they wish to leave the party or register with another party. Additionally, parliament members and councilors who submit requests to leave their party will also be removed instantly. However, under the Constitution and laws, they will lose their seats upon leaving or changing parties. The Commission says that if a political party wishes to remove a member from its register, this can be done through the SIMED portal login.