Funding political campaigns

THE COSTLY advertising/public relations campaigns recently undertaken by the two main political parties and the attendant inability of third parties to attract funding are stark reminders of the importance of the society coming to grips with the issue of state-funding of political campaigns.

The parties have not confirmed any figures on their advertising campaigns. However, a cursory glance at their full-page print advertisements and frequent TV commercials, have made analysts put estimates of the governing PNP's campaign in the $250 million range and the opposition JLP campaign has been put at a half of the PNP's expenditure.

The issue of state funding of parties has been put on the national agenda with the Senate accepting a motion by Professor Trevor Munroe to set up a commission to study the issue.

The conventional argument supporting state funding is that it would foster a greater level of accountability by the parties to the electorate/their donors. Additionally it is felt that state funding would help to minimise party donors exercising undue influence on candidates who are beneficiaries of their generosity. Given these positives, state funding is therefore posited as a strategy that would strengthen the democratic process.

But there are definite peculiarities of the Jamaican situation that would make state funding of political parties a hard sell at this time. In the first place given the severity of the debt crisis, the state would be hard-pressed to find additional funding or forego revenue at this time. Additionally, while a more balanced representation in Parliament will encourage greater accountability state funding may lead to changes in the political culture that are not readily predictable.

The provision of duty-free cars for election campaigning was a pragmatic type of state-funding that creates few problems of accountability, except in so far as third parties may have difficulty in staking legitimate claims for assistance.

It should be instructive to study American practice in regards to the limits imposed on private sector donations in order to determine the extent to which the public purse should come to the aid of the parties.

All this has to take account of the reality that expensive high technology is increasingly being used to make voting more efficient and fair. The cost of elections is an important part of the price of democratic practice.

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