Efforts to scrutinise political fundraising
FUNDRAISING efforts by political parties during the campaigning period before the 2022 General Election could be questioned by the Electoral Commission under the proposed Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosure) (Amendment) 2020.
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights chairman Alvick Maharaj said the proposed Bill would ensure there was no corruption within the system.
“One of the things that our Electoral Commission has seen is how, for example, a political party is showing that they had actually raised $100,000 in just one soli,” he said.
“Those kinds of things raise a lot of questions. Political parties hold fundraisers every week or every month to raise that kind of money but not one of them raises that kind of money in one night or within one or two hours.
“Or, for example, a raffle ticket is sold for $150,000. That is something that the Electoral Commission will monitor.
“Under this Bill, now every candidate will go to the Electoral Commission and state every raffle ticket has been sold and how much each was worth.
“These are some of the changes that will be brought in under the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosure) (Amendment) 2020.”
The proposed Bill will introduce a new subsection under Section 24 of the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosure) Act 2013.
The amendment states that any candidate (whether elected to Parliament or not) must, within 30 days of the return of the writ, provide to the Registrar the following information in writing— (a) the amount of any money received by him or her; (b) the amount and source of any donation received by him or her; and (c) the income and expenditure.