Public funding of political parties can work, but civil society and a free and attentive media are essential for preventing corruption, according to Marcin Walecki, chief of democratic governance at the OSCE?s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, who spoke at CEU Oct. 8.
?We believed that public funding [on its own] would replace private contributions and oligarchs,? Walecki said. ?I think, honestly, what you need to do is have a public control mechanism in place before you start funding.?
Walecki, who relayed his personal views rather than as a representative of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, gave a lecture titled ?Politics Captured by Business or Business Captured by Politics? Private Interests and Party Financing in Democracies,? as part of the Rector?s Lecture Series: Freedom and Democracy Dialogues - The Contest over Open Society. Walecki has over 15 years of experience advising on political party financing and other issues in 30 countries, most of them transitioning democracies.
Civil society and a strong media are two of the main pillars of the ?public control mechanism? that Walecki says are necessary to keep party financing honest. The others include a party?s internal controls ? parties must know who their donors are and be responsible about accepting money from them, he says.
A strong, independent political finance regulator is also key, although there is a risk of collusion if this body is also publicly funded. In the U.S., the regulator is weak, but the strong media, quick to report on any hint of campaign finance scandal, makes up for that. The voters represent another pillar, Walecki says. They must vote corrupt politicians out of office.
?That?s difficult because most voters don?t differentiate among politicians,? Walecki said. ?A recent poll in Poland showed that more people believe there is life on Mars than believe there are honest politicians.?
It?s important to design a system with these factors in mind, Walecki said. If you give too much funding, small parties will come to depend on it for as much as 90 percent of their financing, which probably means they are not really viable parties. Too little funding, and you invite parties to seek out oligarchs and other big interest groups who expect favors in return. In the U.S., no serious presidential candidate can accept public funding because then he or she is limited to spending of just $90 million, which will not win an election. Funding must be enough to help a party operate an efficient, transparent network to reach out to voters.
?If you don?t have a well-designed system, you?re adding clean water to poisoned water, making the problem worse,? Walecki noted.
One way to ensure public funding is spent efficiently and for the benefit of all is to attach criteria, such as requiring steps toward gender equality for party members or candidates and requiring spending on policy research so the party will be prepared to make recommendations and debate.
Banning private contributions is not a viable option, Walecki says, because supporting a political party is an important form of participation in democracy. The checks and balances, however, are key.
?If you do not have controls, it doesn?t matter where the money is coming from,? Walecki said. ?It?s not a question of how poor the country is, it depends how committed the country is.?
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Source: http://www.ceu.hu/news/2012-10-12/walecki-says-civil-society-key-to-keeping-party-financing-honest
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