Money matters in elections

Campaign finance and its regulations play a critical role in determining the quality and integrity of elections. While insufficient funds can hamper the ability of candidates to effectively run campaigns, it is equally crucial that all citizens must have a genuine and equal opportunity to participate in elections as candidates on a level playing field, with state authorities taking appropriate measures to prevent fraud.

Therefore, any regulations to campaign finance should strike a balance between preserving the freedom of expression and safeguarding the fairness of the electoral process.

The Elections Act, 2017 currently sets Rs30,000 as the non-refundable nomination fee for a citizen to represent in the National Assembly and a Rs20,000 fee for the Provincial Assembly seat. Moreover, for the campaign expenses, the permissible limit is Rs10 million for individuals vying for a National Assembly seat and Rs4 million for a Provincial Assembly seat. Contesting candidates are mandated to designate a specific bank account for monitoring campaign expenditures.

However, when considering the average household income of Pakistanis, at Rs41,545 in the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) of 2018-19 by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, these permissible limits appear demoralisingly steep. The permissible limits risk excluding a considerable portion of the population from electoral participation, thereby raising concerns about the fairness of the electoral system. In addition, there is an evident lack of measures in place to ensure that campaign expenses remain within the intended use and prescribed legal limits, particularly when these regulations only apply to individual candidates and not political parties or other expenses incurred on their behalf.

Candidate expenses may include a wide array of activities, including acquiring office spaces, organising electoral rallies, hiring staff, procuring campaign materials and advertising in mass media. To illustrate, consider a public gathering or rally organised in support of a contesting candidate. If such an event is financially supported by a political party or another entity on behalf of a candidate, these expenses, already challenging to track and monitor, are not accounted for as the candidate's expense. This situation allows the candidate to potentially evade responsibility, claiming ignorance of such expenses. Despite the significant campaign costs associated with Pakistani elections by election experts, the requirement for contesting candidates to pledge adherence to election law and rules upon their victory does not seem to effectively deter exuberant spending in practice.

The ECP has recently launched the Election Monitoring Control Center (EMCC), a system designed to oversee elections and address issues reported through complaints or identified by election officials. However, a fundamental challenge still remains due to the absence of measures to scrutinise party expenses and costs incurred on behalf of individual candidates. Moreover, while the EMCC may have the capability to monitor social media, the tracking and regulation of expenses on different social media platforms prove exceedingly complex, particularly considering the growing reliance on digital techniques like micro-targeting, which employ data-driven strategies for personalised voter outreach.

Thus it is difficult to say that the electoral process is entirely fair, as it discriminates against ordinary citizens aspiring to participate in elections as candidates, and lacks a comprehensive framework to ensure transparent and equitable expenditure. Urgent measures are warranted, including the imposition of contribution limits on political parties and the promotion of transparency by making public the funding of election campaigns. The ECP should contemplate implementing measures for examining the financial records of political parties, clearly defining election expenses to include candidate-associated costs, and making financial statements of individual members and political parties publicly accessible ahead of the general elections. In the longer term, there is a dire need for deliberations to include party financing regulations in the electoral framework. Pakistan can draw lessons from countries such as Germany or Canada when adopting such measures to enhance the overall credibility, transparency and accountability of the electoral process.