Fact Check: The People's Party clarifies that claims the party's membership registration might be illegal to the point of dissolution are false. It emphasizes that collecting Laser ID data does not violate the Department of Provincial Administration's orders. The party has applied this practice since the Future Forward and Move Forward parties and has now updated its membership page to remove the Laser ID requirement.
On 18 Feb 2026 GMT+7, the People's Party's Fact Check Facebook page posted about Laser ID following the national ID card, stating: “The People's Party confirms that requesting Laser ID from citizens applying for party membership is lawful.” This was in response to rumors from various sources suggesting the membership registration process could be illegal and might lead to the party's dissolution. The People's Party affirms these claims are untrue.
The first point to understand is that “requesting Laser ID from citizens” and “requesting permission to connect Laser ID data with the Department of Provincial Administration” are two different matters.
“Requesting Laser ID from citizens” can be done with general consent, similar to collecting other personal data such as name, address, email, and phone number. It does not require permission from the Department of Provincial Administration and is an agreement between the data owner (the citizen) and the requester (the party).
“Requesting permission to connect Laser ID data with the Department of Provincial Administration” requires authorization from that department. In the past, the Future Forward and Move Forward parties were fully authorized to connect to the Department's system before their dissolution.
For the People's Party, authorization has been granted for software to read data from the multipurpose national ID card (Smart Card) and the digital identity verification system (DOPA Digital ID). Only the final step remains: obtaining permission to use the Web Service to verify ID card status via API, which will complete the process.
Although general standards require political parties to collect and submit certain information (such as name, surname, address, postal code, membership number, etc.), parties may request additional data to verify the identity of membership applicants more thoroughly. This ensures a stricter verification standard to prevent cases where someone claims not to have applied or where ID numbers are misused to register members. Therefore, a multi-step identity verification system is designed, such as:
Requesting the Laser ID number (identity verification number on the card's back) to prevent registrations using only front-side data like the 13-digit ID number, name, and address. This step confirms with the Department of Provincial Administration's system that the ID card is the latest valid version and that the data matches.
An OCR system requiring applicants to take a photo with their ID card during registration to confirm that the person is aware and genuinely intends to join the party.
This identity verification process is a higher standard than legally required, with no prohibitions, and has been used consistently since the Future Forward and Move Forward parties without any legal issues.
Regarding reports that “the People's Party defied the Department of Provincial Administration's order by collecting Laser ID data from over 110,000 people while awaiting permission,” the People's Party confirms this is untrue. The party does not collect Laser ID data. Even if data were collected, it would not violate any law because it is done with the data owner's consent and is unrelated to needing permission from the department, as explained earlier. The party reiterates that it has never collected this information since the Future Forward and Move Forward parties and has no intention to do so.
To alleviate concerns, the party has updated the membership registration page to remove the Laser ID field until permission to use the Web Service for verifying ID card status via API is granted, which is expected to happen soon.
