-Oscar Clarke
Model legislation put forward by the Organisation of American States (OAS) on political party registration and campaign financing has received an ‘A’ for effort from regional politicians but there will be no rush to reform existing systems anytime soon.
PNCR General Secretary Oscar Clarke spoke to Stabroek News recently about the outcome of an OAS-organised regional consultation on strengthening political parties and campaign financing held in Jamaica earlier this month. The consultation, a joint effort with the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), brought together the general secretaries of the governing and main opposition political parties in Caricom member states. The two-day event looked at model legislation on the registration and regulation of political parties and campaign finances.
According to Clarke, the participants thought it was “a good start.” “Clearly there was no question of it being accepted in its present form. No country felt that they were ready for it. But it was a good starting point for discussion in the various political parties in the various countries and among their citizens because people need to know about what this thing is all about.” He added that each territory would have to decide on the kind of legislation they want based on the draft and formulate what they thought best for them.
According to Clarke, party registration and campaign financing was something for the future in the Caribbean. He noted that Jamaica has taken it further than most with a draft law produced by the EOJ. However, he was reluctant to say when would be a reasonable timeframe to expect similar laws here, saying that the consensus at the meeting was that such legislation needed at least a decade to formulate. “Everybody felt that nothing is going to happen significantly for another 10 years even though you start talking about it now. I think that for most of us it was an introduction to something that will have to necessarily be discussed internally by the parties and then you have to take it out to the public and then of course for the official aspects to come on stream.”
Clarke said he believed that any such law should address the issue of the incumbent party’s access to state resources during election time and it was something he raised at the consultation.
GAP/ROAR parliamentarian Everall Franklin and the AFC’s Vice-Chairperson Sheila Holder have both made similar calls. Franklin, however, argues that any such legislation should be dealt with after the 2011 general elections. Holder has said that the issue is too urgent to be deferred, since it has a direct impact on free and fair elections and consequences for governing parties who received funds from less than reputable sources. “If you get dirty money you almost have an obligation to fulfil their interest and this has a direct impact on governance and elected democracy,” she declared.
Meanwhile, Clarke supports the idea of registering political parties, saying that it would add to their “credibility.” “They have to supply all this information for registration, they have to update that information all the time, they have to provide information about the financial operations of the party because if you’re putting money into it you have to know what they’re doing with it.”
He said the registration was widely seen at the consultation as the starting point and is already happening in some countries in the region. Clarke was also in favour of state funding for political parties but added that it would have to be carefully thought out. “If you’re talking about limiting the incumbent’s range at the same time you have to see how you can compensate other political parties to get some assistance. We ought to be looking at possible areas of control to have the playing field level.”
On the local elections financing legislation, Clarke said it was being “honoured in the breach.” “Whatever we have there doesn’t operate because it doesn’t have the kind of teeth that this kind of legislation has so people just submit anything. We need to register political parties and put some teeth in if we’re really going to be serious about it and particularly if we’re going to expect the state to finance in anyway what we’re doing.”
Clarke said the OAS officials were pleased with the outcome of the consultation, which was conducted “without acrimony.”
At the opening of the event, OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin had stressed the importance of further democratising the electoral process in the Caribbean. “I strongly believe this regional meeting is both timely and important, given the upcoming new round of constitutionally-due general elections that will take place in several Caricom countries beginning in early 2011,” an OAS release reported him as saying.
According to Ramdin, the ability of candidates to raise funds, form political parties and organise solid electoral campaigns is the central challenge to electoral democracy in the hemisphere.
Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, along with other politicians and electoral experts also participated in the discussions.
