The paper, in explaining the concept of political financing and its relationship with democracy, proposes the key principles “in order to ensure fairness in political financing”.
Firstly, the rule of law. The rules must be equally enforced on everyone by an independent body and there must not be any element of arbitrariness.
The rules must also be transparent and there must be commensurate sanctions for those who break it.
Secondly, Fairness for voters and political parties. Regardless of whether the funding was from private or public sources, the rules must be fair to all and must level the playing field.
Thirdly, transparency and accountability. Voters should know where their parties received money from in order to make informed choices. Party members too should have the same information.
Fourthly, checks and balances to prevent unlimited power. The party which wins an election must not be able to fashion a system which favours them. The body overseeing the election process and political financing must be independent and credible.
Fifthly, exercise of political and civil liberties by the electorate. The system must be designed to ensure that all parties have sufficient resources to exercise their political rights, in order to allow the electorate to make informed choices.
“A level playing field requires a set of clear rules which are consistently and equally applied,” said Melnik. “Where there’s a massive bias towards incumbents and opportunities for the rest are limited or restricted, results will not be easily accepted by the public.”
Proper competition and real choice are not possible without substantial financial resources, he added. “Securing and protecting political rights and civil liberties are not only matters of law.”
“It is also a matter of ensuring that these rights mean something substantive.”
Ideas Chief Executive Officer Wan Saiful Wan Jan, in commenting on the paper, disclosed that since he’s a member of the government’s committee on political financing chaired by Minister Paul Low, he will be taking the proposals in the paper to the committee.
“These (the paper) are principles which can create a more transparent and accountable system that will strengthen public confidence in our democratic processes,” said Wan Saiful. “The principles are important because our committee will soon be proposing ways to regulate political financing, including amendments to existing laws.”
“We must ensure that all proposals are within the framework of an effective liberal democracy.”
The country, he added, has seen some extremely questionable practices when it comes to political financing. “But due to the lack of an effective set of laws, no action can be taken. The longer this situation remains, more people will become disillusioned by the system.”
Wan Saiful went on to say that the country needs to “fix this” so that the laws are realistic and up to date. “No more abuses can take place.”
Read the Ideas paper here: Policy IDEAS № 29: The Principles of Political Finance Regulations