Political Party Finance

Political Finance as a topic for the BRIDGE Modules

International IDEA continues working to ensure a global approach to the area of political finance by contributing to the development of a BRIDGE module focusing on political finance.

BRIDGE is a comprehensive professional development program with a particular focus on electoral processes and those involved in elections management.

In May 2009, as a response to the increased interest in the subject of political finance, International IDEA and IFES co-hosted a workshop with political finance and BRIDGE experts to begin the development process for a new BRIDGE module on political finance.

International IDEA and IFES invited experts with considerable experience in the field of political finance to participate in the two day working group using the BRIDGE methodology. The purpose of the workshop was to gather expertise from the participants and to lay a foundation upon which the module could then be built. Input from experts helped determine the content of the module which was then drafted over the following three months (see: http://bridge-project.org/)

Political Finance Laws and Regulations database

The International IDEA database on Political Finance Laws and Regulations contains information on the laws on funding of political parties for more than 100 countries in the world. That makes it the largest collection of such information available.

The data is undergoing major updates during year 2011, in line with developments and research taking place since the original database was created.

The database will provide information on different themes, such as regulation and enforcement; public funding provisions; bans on sources of funding; and on disclosure rules and ceilings for income and expenditure. The database will consist of 43 unique variables for each country. It features three types of variables: i) regarding general party finance, ii) regarding the financing of candidates, and iii) miscellaneous political funding questions. The information is presented by country (click on the maps or choose a country from the scroll-down menu) and by theme. You can make your own comparisons based on countries, themes or regions. More information about each of the questions and thematic areas can be found under “Choose theme” by following the link after each question.

For more information, please email: pfdatabase2011@idea.int

In addition, several other publications on party financing have been published by International IDEA, among them:

• Funding of Political Parties and Election Campaigns in the Americas (2005)
• De las normas a las buenas prácticas – El desafío del financiamiento político en América Latina (2004)
  
• From Grassroots to the Airwaves – Paying for Political Parties and Campaigns in the Caribbean (2005)
• The Delicate Balance between Political Equity and Freedom of Expression – Political Party and Campaign Financing in Canada and the United States (2005)

All these publications may be downloaded directly from International IDEA's website by following the respective links above. A CD-ROM containing the publications is also available.