Pildat proposes reforms for strengthening political finance regulatory framework

LAHORE: While calling out regulatory gaps in political finance, the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) have urged reforms in its latest report.

The PILDAT conducted a briefing session with representatives of the media on Wednesday to launch its issue paper “state of political finance in Pakistan” which proposes reforms for strengthening the political finance regulatory framework in the country.

The session began with welcome remarks by Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, who highlighted the importance of accountability and transparency in political finance for any democratic country. Ms Alena Sadiq from PILDAT gave an in-depth presentation, where she explained the current rules and regulations governing political finance as outlined in the Elections Act, 2017. She highlighted the gaps and ambiguities in the current regulatory framework for electoral finance.

While strict legal spending caps exist for candidates’ expenditures during elections, Section 132 (5) allows for a way around the limits by allowing third parties to spend money on behalf of a candidate “without the consent” of the candidate. Moreover, while candidates are required to report expenditures, they are not required to report the identity of donors. The law is also particularly vague when it comes to the disclosure of political parties’ election expenditures. While Section 211(2) mandates the submission of political parties’ election expenses, it does not specify a reporting deadline or require public disclosure.

To conclude, Mehboob put forth PILDAT’s key recommendations for improving the state of political finance in Pakistan: The term ‘source of funds’ should be elaborated upon in the Elections Act, 2017, as defined in Article 17 (3) of the Constitution; the enforcement of political finance laws should be improved through extensive monitoring mechanisms; the audit and accounts personnel within the Political Finance Wing should undergo rigorous training; investments should be made in technology and data management systems; a set percentage of political finance records, obtained from political parties and individuals, should be chosen at random for inspection regularly.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024