many Western European countries display a worrying trend related to public funding. Political parties in this region have become extremely dependent on this revenue, which forms up to an average of two-thirds of their total income and in some countries more than 80 per cent. The gradual increase in the amounts of public subsidies that parties have effectively granted themselves through legislation could be interpreted by some as self-interest. To counteract this high dependence, innovative mechanisms to find a better balance should be encouraged.8 The suitable balance should be determined by context. If used, public funding should, however, provide for at least the basic needs of any party that has passed a certain threshold of public support so that it can perform its core functions of citizen participation and representation. Gender and public funding Today there is a small but growing group of countries that link the provision of public funding to increased gender equality within parties and among candidates, either by earmarking public funding for activities relating to gender equality or by increasing (or decreasing) public funding to parties that fulfil (or do not fulfil) legislated quotas of female candidates. Such initiatives are important as they aim to address the shortage of funds for women, which is often seen as one of the main obstacles for women entering politics. However, most countries have not linked public funding of political parties to gender equality. Since these reforms are quite recent it is hard to establish their impact thus far. Yet it is fair to assume that, in order for these measures to be effective, the party should incur a substantial financial penalty for non-compliance. Linking public funding to nominating the under-represented sex is, however, often not substantive enough to have this effect. As long as parties feel that it may be more worthwhile to field a male candidate, despite the financial sanctions, this type of reform initiative is likely to serve only as window dressing. It also follows that regulations of this kind will be more effective in countries where parties are highly dependent on public funding. F u n d i n g o f p o l i t i c a l p a r t i e s a n d e l e c t i o n s Conclusions Although each country examined thus far has its own unique challenges related to money and politics, there are a number of challenges that span virtually all the regions and which motivate the recommendations listed in the conclusion. They include: • High costs of campaigning that are prohibitive for many political actors • Lack of grass-roots support that could translate into funding streams • Illicit funding and criminal sources of funding that politicians may be unwilling or unable to confront • Business and politics: donations that are seen as an investment by corporate interests have been reported from virtually all of the regions • Abuse of state resources for partisan purposes: blurring of lines between (usually ruling) party and state resources • Lack of enforcement9 • Self-regulation of parties and politicians • Lack of independent oversight/enforcement agencies10 Although political parties are ultimately responsible for adopting political finance laws, the creation of rules governing money in politics should be agreed upon through wide consultation involving a broad section of stakeholders. This includes not only the government, parliament and political parties, but also the enforcement agencies, the judiciary and civil society. Civic participation in regulating political finance does not have to mean an ‘anti-political’ vision of non-competitive politics; rather it should be a counterpart to sound public administration and an instance of accountability and transparency. The public goods and resources at stake go beyond the financial to include the rule of law, social trust and confidence in democratic institutions. Recommendations Context is key. Political finance regulations that are tailor-made to a given country’s context stand a better chance of successful implementation and compliance. A country’s political system and Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2014/15 13 Women voting in the 1997 Pakistan elections Integrity of elections The need to regulate uncontrolled, undisclosed and opaque political finance was identified by the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security as a major challenge to the integrity of elections in emerging and mature democracies alike... Indeed, a failure to regulate political finance threatens to hollow out democracy and rob it of its unique strengths. Citizens all over the world want political parties and governments to represent their views and be responsive to their needs... There is clearly an urgent need to better control political finance. Governments should regulate political donations and expenditures effectively. This will require full transparency and disclosure of donations, with penalties for non-compliance. Effective monitoring and enforcement of regulations are also crucial. Kofi A. Annan Chair, Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security
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