Summary
An independent monitoring body created to review political and campaign finance must have autonomous capacity to seek out violations.
Election Parts
Criteria
Quotes
- In order to be effective, the regulatory body must also have the autonomous capacity to seek out violations.
- The regulatory authority must have adequate powers to supervise and investigate accounts and to refer irregularities to the criminal justice authorities.
- To ensure the effectiveness of campaign finance rules, it is critical that responsibility for supervision be given to an independent and professional regulatory body, mandated to provide guidance to electoral stakeholders, check campaign finance reports and investigate potential breaches, and that it be endowed with sanctioning power in order to promote the effective implementation of the law and ensure the accountability of all stakeholders.
- The designated institution or institutions should be given the necessary financial, human and operational resources to fulfil its mandate, as well as sufficient time to undertake its duties comprehensively and effectively.
- To ensure the effectiveness of campaign finance rules, it is critical that responsibility for supervision be given to an independent and professional regulatory body, mandated to provide guidance to electoral stakeholders, check campaign finance reports and investigate potential breaches, and that it be endowed with sanctioning power in order to promote the effective implementation of the law and ensure the accountability of all stakeholders.
- The designated institution or institutions should be given the necessary financial, human and operational resources to fulfil its mandate, as well as sufficient time to undertake its duties comprehensively and effectively.
- An independent oversight agency must be free from political pressure. To achieve this, governments can make the agency directly accountable to parliament, create a competitive and meritocratic system of public appointments, and empower it to receive, investigate and report on complaints received from members of the public. To enforce compliance effectively, the agency needs the resources to operate at speed and scale.