Judicial staff allowed to engage in politics
The previous regulations banned outright participation in political parties and any political activity.
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By
Fathmath Ahmed Shareef
The chapter prohibiting participation in political activities has been removed from the regulations, with a new code of conduct allowing membership at political parties and politically active associations.
With the Code of Conduct for Judicial Employees issued last Thursday, some chapters and articles of the Judicial Employees Regulations have been repealed.
The repealed chapters are:
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Chapter 2 - Employee code of conduct
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Chapter 22 - Abuse of Employees: With amendments, this section has been included in the newly published code of conduct
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Chapter 26 - on information technology and data security in the judiciary; with amendments, this section has been included in the newly published code of conduct
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Chapter 27 - participation in political activities; the code of conduct has been amended to lift the prohibition on participation in political activities
The code of conduct, which has now come into force, includes regulations on participation in political activities.
This article states that, no employee shall do anything that may bring into question the integrity of the judiciary and shall refrain from doing anything that would undermine the independence of the judiciary and the public confidence in the system. These include political activity defined as:
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Activities to increase or decrease the popularity of a particular political party or candidate
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Debates and campaigns on issues that are or may be politically controversial among the public
Despite this provision, it describes and includes the matters in which judicial employees may participate in political activities:
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Being a member of a political party or political movement
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Voting in an internal election of a political party or political movement
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Assisting a relative who cannot attend the polling station on their own
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Participation in social activities that do not or are unlikely to create divisions among the public and whose involvement will not adversely affect the independence of or confidence in the judiciary or call into question its integrity
The previous regulations banned outright participation in political parties and any political activity.
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