Piloting of the new BRIDGE Module on Political Financing in Pakistan

IFES Pakistan, in partnership with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), has organized a political financing workshop for the senior management of the ECP in the city of Lahore, Pakistan, during the period 27 – 29 Sep. 2010.

There is a debate in Pakistan now in relation to the current political financing system and the types of reforms needed in order to develop a more efficient and realistic party financing system. ECP, media and civil society are all involved in this debate and they are looking at various strategies that could be used in Pakistan to ensure equal opportunities and level playing field for the political parties and their candidates. Therefore, ECP has requested IFES Pakistan to design and deliver a BRIDGE workshop to introduce the ECP senior level management to the main principles, structures and institutions underlying a credible and workable political financing regulatory framework, and to encourage participants to identify, explore, and seek resolution to significant political financing issues and stumbling blocks in their immediate environment.

BRIDGE training materials were thoroughly customized to suit the local context in Pakistan and the electoral legal framework of the country. Also, the agenda was designed to cover topics that are of direct relevance to the political financing system in Pakistan and to potential reforms.

Some of the topics covered in this workshop were:

• The guiding principles for Political Financing
• Mechanisms for political parties to access and use political financing.
• How can money influence politics
• Political party finance and campaign finance
• Political finance regulation components (disclosure, bans, limits and public funding)
• Political Finance models
• Types and responsibilities of the regulatory bodies and strategies for enforcement of regulations
• The regulatory system in Pakistan and suggestions for reforms
• Roles of stakeholders in the political financing system and the reform process

The workshop was facilitated by Wael Al-Faraj(IFES Consultant), Emad Yousef (IFES Consultant), Khalid Wahid (ECP), Rana Aslam (ECP), and Aysha Shujaat (IFES Consultant – Semi-accredited facilitator). Aysha Shujaat successfully facilitated in this workshop and completed her accreditation, congratulations!