35 political parties registered in Russia - 2 October, 2002

At present, there are 35 political parties registered with the Russian Ministry of Justice, said Minister of Justice Yury Chaika at a press conference held in Moscow on Wednesday.

According to him, 10 parties were denied registration due to the fact that their charters did not comply with the current legislation.

At present the Ministry of Justice is examining a new charter of the Liberal Russia political party, noted the minister. Previously the party was denied registration due to the fact that its charter did not correspond to the current legislation. Now the Ministry of Justice is examining a revised charter of this party, said the minister.

Answering the questions of the journalists on whether or not the Ministry of Justice decided to register the "National Sovereign Party of Russia" (NDPR), Chaika noted that while registering parties the judicial bodies must follow the law and not personal likes or dislikes. As he put it, the charters of this party comply with the law "On Political Parties," and the NDPR program does not contain calls for a violent change of the constitutional regime or inciting national or religious disputes.

Nevertheless, Chaika noted that the Ministry of Justice would closely follow the activity of the NDPR and will take measures under the current legislation in case of violations of the charter. The minister added that he had launched an investigation to find out whether the activity of the party complied with the clauses of the charter.

Chaika also said that at present 160,000 public associations and 21,000 religious organizations were registered with the Ministry of Justice.