[pp.int.general] Court of Arbitration ruling 2012-1-A: public call for evidence

[Boris Turovskiy]

Hi Thijs,

a Court of Arbitration is - at least according to German law on 
political parties - a necessary part of a democratic party structure to 
resolve internal disputes and issue rulings in case of conflict. Its 
core characteristic is that it must be independent of the respective 
Board - it is elected independently by the General Assembly and the 
Board has no rights to disband the CoA. Also, in each specific case only 
those CoA members who are not personally involved may handle the 
proceedings.

The idea behind it is to set up a checks-and-balances solution which  
limits the Board's powers, e.g. has the power to penalize the Board if 
it goes against the statutes; which protects individual members (that's 
why rulings on expelling a member can only be made by a CoA, not by the 
Board or the General Assembly: the first would give the Board the power 
to exclude members who they personally dislike, the second would 
encourage mob justice); and which allows conflicts inside the 
organization to be resolved without involving a regular court.

It is difficult to say whether a CoA makes sense within the PPI in its 
current state; especially potential conflicts of interests are 
exceedingly difficult to keep at bay, as inside the PPI personal 
relationships, national Parties' ambitions and even intercontinental 
conflicts overlap, making it difficult to find a truly uninvolved person 
in any conflict situation. However, before calling for the CoA to be 
disbanded, consider that without a CoA there is no way at all to 
penalize the Board if it comes to real corruption or misjudgments.

Best regards,
Boris

> Am I the only one who finds it hilarious, that on their very first case,
> the CoA proves to be just as corrupt as the establishment we all oppose?
> Really... what is this CoA anyway? Some pitiful attempt to proclaim some
> half-witted people experts, and having us all follow their judgements. What
> a way to supplant transparent debate with closed proceedings. These people
> should not exist, CoA should not exist. Lets get rid of this now, shall we?