Colloquium on financing political parties and election campaigns

On Tuesday, November 22, the colloquium on financing political parties and election campaigns, organized by the Senate of Uruguay, the Electoral Court, and International IDEA, was held in the Edificio Artigas, attached to the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The colloquium began with the inauguration of the Chairperson of the Senate Special Committee on Political Parties, Financing, and Campaign Publicity, Enrique Pintado. He was followed by the presentations entrusted to Lorenzo Córdoba (President of the National Electoral Institute of Mexico), Patricio Santamaría (President of the Electoral Service of Chile), Santiago Concuera (Vice President of the National Electoral Court of Argentina), Gilmar Mendes (President of the Superior Electoral Court of Brazil), and Daniel Zovatto (Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of International IDEA).

Also present were the President of the Electoral Court, José Arocena, the Vice President of the Electoral Court, Wilfredo Penco, all the regular members of the Electoral Court, all the other members of the Committee, including former President José Mujica, authorities of different political parties of Uruguay, representatives of the media, leaders of business chambers, trade union leaders, and academics.

The objective of this meeting was to analyze comparative experiences, identify good practices, and provide inputs to the Senate and the Electoral Court aimed at fostering a new generation of reforms related to financing the campaigns and the political parties.