Party cash bill hailed

MY VOTE COUNTS (MVC) welcomes the publishing of a draft bill to regulate political party funding.

The bill follows a previous call for comment on a “model” for public and private political party funding by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Funding of Political Parties two months ago.

Civil society organisations have advocated for the National Assembly to pass legislation that regulates the private funding of political parties for over 15 years. This process is incredibly important to strengthen our political system by increasing transparency in the identity of the benefactors of political parties, and improving trust and accountability in our politics. The bill, once passed, will also ensure that political parties are not corrupted or unduly influenced in their policy positions or regarding the political decisions they make.

The bill addresses the regulation of private and public funding; establishes a “Multi-Party Democracy Fund” (MPDF) to accept private donations, which will be separate to the “Represented Political Party Fund” (RPPF) through which public funds are distributed; prohibits direct donations to political parties from some sources (including organs of state, foreign governments and persons, SOE’s and the National Lotteries Commission); regulates political party disclosures pertaining to their donations; prescribes what the funding from the MPDF and the RPPF may be used for; expands on the powers and duties of the IEC; and allows for sanctions if there is a contravention of the “act”. Despite these positive steps towards the regulation of party funding, My Vote Counts is extremely concerned that the bill does not address the funding of political parties and independent candidates at the local government level. This means that political parties represented at the local government level and independent candidates do not have to disclose where they receive their private funds from. Janine Ogle, My Vote Counts