Between 27-29 of September 2010, IFES Pakistan, in partnership with Election Commission of Pakistan- ECP, has organized in the city of Lahore, the first BRIDGE workshop on the Political Financing Module.

The specific objectives of the political financing workshop were:

• To understand how political finance, and the control of, influences political parties 
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• To identify and compare ways in which political finance can be regulated 
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• To identify ways and means of maintaining open and positive communication between stakeholders to ensure their meaningful compliance with existing regulations
• To identify options to reform political finance system in Pakistan and the role of different actors in such reform process.

Twenty-one participants representing ECP senior level management from all provinces of Pakistan, and two senior IFES-Pakistan staff, attended the workshop and have been engaged in deep discussions on the state of political finance in Pakistan. Participants also pointed out different suggestions to reform and reinforce existing regulations.

The Political financing workshop comes as part of IFES program to support the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). In the context of this program, IFES, in partnership with the ECP, has started in 2008 an ambitious BRIDGE program, which has included, so far, a showcase, TtF, strategic planning, political financing, and 9 introductory workshops.

The workshop was held at the Pearl Continental-PC Hotel in the historical city of Lahore, and facilitated by a team of International and national facilitators, including Emad Yousef, Wael Alfaraj, Aysha Shujaat, and Rana Aslam and Khalid Waheed from ECP.