Summary
States should require records of expenditure.
Obligations
Election Parts
Quotes
- States should require particular records to be kept of all expenditure, direct and indirect, on electoral campaigns in respect of each political party, each list of candidates and each candidate.
- Financing of political parties must be fully transparent, which requires political parties, in particular: i. to keep strict accounts of all income and expenditure, which must be submitted, at least once a year, to an independent auditing authority and be made public.
- Financing of political parties must be fully transparent, which requires political parties, in particular: ii. to declare the identity of donors who give financial support exceeding a certain limit.
- [States should] ensure transparency of the electoral process, particularly in: 8.2.2. electoral campaign funding and party financing: legislation in this field is necessary not only to regulate the origin of funding and set a limit on expenditure, but also to enable all voters to have access to data on the nature and amount of campaign and party spending.
- There must be accountability in the use of public funds.
- Rules which require a party to maintain and make available for public scrutiny records identifying donations exceeding a certain value and their donors, may be said to embody the principle of transparency.
- Companion legislation that would further promote the right of access to information and provide a supportive legislative framework should be enacted, including: laws compelling disclosure of political party and campaign financing.
- Political parties, candidates and politicians should disclose assets, income and expenditure to an independent agency.
- It is common practice for candidates and political parties to be obliged to disclose funding sources and provide reports and accounts of their campaign expenditure.
- The obligations to promote the enjoyment of the right to freedom of opinion and expression require that States guarantee the transparency of all aspects of political and electoral processes, and should particularly put in place measures to: (a) Enact regulations requiring the submission of periodic financial reports by parties, political organizations and candidates, entailing full disclosure of all resources collected, in monetary form or in kind, and their origin, and all expenditure, in order to promote public scrutiny and informed voting by citizens. Political finance reporting should be comprehensive, timely, available to the public, and subject to stringent sanctions for inadequate disclosure or timeliness.
- To this effect, party financing legislation should include stipulations regulating at least four distinct aspects relating to the transparency of political finance: Disclosure: rules which oblige political parties to open up their financial accounts and reveal information on their levels of income, including the identity of donors, and expenditure.
- The legal framework for party and candidate financing should include provisions for disclosure, reporting, monitoring and enforcement.
- Public legislation on disclosure should adopt the following guidelines: Party reports should be disclosed to an official auditing body and to members of the public.