On Wednesday, 20 July 2011, in Lebanon, the Arab Region Parliamentarians Against Corruption (ARPAC) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) launched their joint project, Enhancing Transparency in Political Finance in the Arab Region. 

The project aims to build awareness and capacity among stakeholders across the Middle East and North Africa on tools that can strengthen transparency in political finance.

Over a period of 18 months, IFES and ARPAC will carry out activities that will shed light on the level of transparency and political and campaign regulation in eight countries. The project will focus on activists and parliamentarians committed to fighting corruption. These activists and parliamentarians will be provided knowledge and tools so they can better influence policy.

Additionally, the project will engender more credible electoral processes to encourage public confidence, more responsive political parties and more reliable, transparent and accountable democratic institutions. It will also enable the development of a common methodological tool in target countries for monitoring political finance in order to promote civic oversight of, and access to information on, electoral fundraising and spending.

Member of Parliament (MP) and Chairman of ARPAC Ghassan Moukheiber and IFES’ Regional Director Zeinab Abdelkarim met at the Lebanese Parliament to launch the program. Both welcomed the joint initiative and stressed the importance of working to promote transparency in the electoral process in the Arab region. ARPAC and IFES staff members in Beirut attended the launch and discussed the project’s activities, goals and outcomes.

This project is funded by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI).