Elections and the regulation of election expenditure

Today the country is held in thraw of an impending local government election. Our president has said he will not be involved in electioneering. This is perhaps a good precedent for future heads of state to follow -remaining above partisan party politics.   

The president himself has remained non-committal regarding the holding of local government elections at this particular point of time. The opposition parties are demanding the local elections be held in a timely manner, claiming its is a fundamental right of the people. 

 
On19 January parliament passed the Regulation of Election Expenditure Bill with a majority of 61 votes -97 voting in favour and 36 voting against it.   

In a truly shocking attitude, toward important matters of state, only 133 members out of the 225 Members of Parliament were present at voting time.   

This despite the controversial nature of the bill which the opposition claimed could be used by the government to postpone the holding of local government elections, which had already been declared by the Commissioner of Elections.   

The Chief Opposition Whip himself claimed the Chairman of the Election Commission had pointed out the bill ‘could create confusion with regard to the local government election’.   

The Secretary to the Treasury also on the same day submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court claiming the cash flow management of the government had become extremely challenging and it was a difficult task to find funds for an election. Media reported on 9 December, the Commissioner General of the National Election Commission (NEC) saying that it will cost approximately Rs. 10 billion to conduct the local government election.

In 2019 election monitoring body PAFFREL (People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections) using the ‘Right to Information Act, disclosed that candidates who contested at the last provincial election had spent an average sum of Rs. 40 million for election campaigns. Based on this disclosure alone, there is a definite need for regulating financial expenditure in election campaigns. Else the legitimacy of elections itself will be tarnished. A question which arises, is where politicians and political parties find these gigantic sums of money required to contest elections. An ex-president is reportedly accepting till collections from the public to raise Rs.100 million to pay a fine imposed on him by the Supreme Court. On 19 January our columns reported one such till collection raised a sum of Rs. 1,810/-in a day. It is clear therefore, old style till collections cannot raise the funds needed to cover the cost of a candidates election campaign costs.

Amidst today’s financial crisis, the large sums needed for election campaigning, (especially in the contest for preferential votes) are way beyond ordinary mortals.   

Candidates are thus forced to turn to the only persons having these huge sums at their disposal.-underworld figures involved in possession and trafficking of narcotics, human trafficking etc. This in turn makes our elected representatives indebted to these unscrupulous segments of society. In this light it is not surprising many big-time criminals are able to continue their nefarious activities while the forces of law and order are forced to turn a blind eye by their political masters.

So what made so many of our lawmakers, including leaders of political parties absent themselves from parliament when voting on such an important issue was taking place? Were they torn between a possibility that the side-effects of the bill could help postpone the local government election. Or much worse, were some powerful personages behind the scene attempting to scuttle a much needed piece of legislation. Whatever the answer, the much needed piece of legislation is now in place. The big question is whether our legislators will comply with its requirements or seek ways and means to work around it.

What is also necessary is therefore stringent legislation to punish those offenders and political groupings who do not make correct revelations of ‘donations’ and expenditure. If such measures are not put in place and mechanisms to monitor and check the veracity of claims made by politicians, the bill will end up another toothless tiger and hoodlums will continue to rule the roost.