Regional Exchange on Strengthening Campaign Finance Systems and Practices

ODIHR is organizing the “Regional Exchange on Strengthening Campaign Finance Systems and Practices” conference to share knowledge and draw conclusions for follow-up actions aimed at improving existing campaign finance systems in the context of new and recurrent challenges, in alignment with ODIHR recommendations and international standards.

The conference is part of the ODIHR Support to Electoral Reforms in the Western Balkans project funded by the European Union and the Austrian Development Agency.

Topics

The discussion will focus on key aspects related to campaign financing such as:

• International and regional obligations, standards and good practice and regional standards and principles for regulating campaign finance, including good practice for oversight of expenditures incurred offline and online
• Types of funding, regulatory challenges related to growing sources of financing and limitation expenditures, including third parties and foreign funding
• Comparative examples of disclosure mechanisms and auditing capacities, with a focus on good practice and lessons learnt for greater transparency and public trust
• Campaign finance oversight powers: challenges and opportunities related to sanctions, investigation and enforcement

Context

The OSCE participating States have committed to ensure conditions for transparency and equal treatment of contestants in electoral campaigns, including protection against the abuse of state resources.

Respect for these key principles is also enshrined in international treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the United Nations Convention against Corruption, and regional instruments, such as the joint ODIHR/Venice Commission Guidelines on Political Party Regulation.

Together with other documents, they set up, amongst others, a framework for the election campaign which provides for financial transparency, a level playing field and freedom of opinion and expression for candidates and political parties.

OSCE participating States have addressed the regulation of campaign finance in various ways, according to their specific circumstances and approaches to the role of public and private funding in political life. In this regard, campaign finance systems across the Western Balkans present diverse solutions in terms of possible sources of funding, limitations on contributions and expenditures, requirements for reporting and disclosure and related mechanisms in place for oversight, including sanctions for violations. This regional conference is the sixth such event organized by the “Support to Electoral Reforms in the Western Balkans” project.

Participants

• Election management bodies
• Campaign finance oversight bodies
• Civil society organizations, including citizen election observation groups
• Local and international experts

Participation in this event is by invitation only.

Contact

For further information, please contact the “Support to Electoral Reforms in the Western Balkans” project team at wb-project@odihr.pl.