Legal and Regulatory Reform in Political Finance

In countries around the globe, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) collaborates with all key domestic stakeholders – including parliaments, government institutions, civil society groups and media outlets – to cultivate effective and appropriate transparency and accountability measures. IFES works to build consensus around necessary legal reforms to ensure that the mandate of the political finance regulator and associated procedures are clearly defined within the legal and regulatory framework, and that the established system promotes transparency in political finance. IFES also provides assistance to political finance regulators in developing procedural regulations to clarify and expand upon the provisions in the legislative framework that provide guidance to electoral stakeholders on how to adhere to the law. This is accomplished through encouraging consultation of key domestic stakeholders and the facilitation of workshops and working groups.

Examples of IFES initiatives include:

• Examining Georgia’s laws governing political finance and developing specific recommendations to encourage further discussion regarding electoral reform.
• Presenting comments on the draft legislation relating to political finance in Nepal to the State Affairs Committee of the Nepalese parliament.
• In collaboration with the Tunisia Court of Accounts and the Parliamentary Commission Responsible for Electoral Legislation, organizing a workshop to review the provisions of the draft amendments to the electoral code pertaining to campaign finance to and to propose concrete improvements.

To read more articles related to Legal and Regulatory Reform in Political Finance, click on the links below:

• Controlling Campaign Finance in Tunisia 
• The Electoral Integrity Project’s "The Year in Elections 2015"
• IFES Releases Report on Tunisia’s Legal Framework of Campaign Finance Mechanisms 
• Electoral Financing and Democracy 
• IFES’ 2014 U.S. Election Program Fosters Dialogue on Voting Rights, Campaign Finance, Women’s Political Participation and More Critical Topics 
• Global Measures of Electoral Credibility: Voter Participation and Political Finance 
• Regulations of Parliamentary Campaign Finance in Ukraine 
• Legal Analysis of Campaign Finance Regulation in Tunisia 
• IFES Nigeria Political Finance Newsletter
• Regulations of Parliamentary Campaign Finance in Ukraine 
• The Serbian 2011 Law on Financing Political Activities - Legal Provisions and Recommendations for Enforcement 
• Legal Analysis of Campaign Finance Regulation in Tunisia