Political parties floating with fragile funding

By Zafarullah Khan
With such resources, how can parties effectively reach out to over 70 million voters in the country, train their office bearers and workers in policy making, campaign and communication related tasks, or run well-equipped offices at the national, provincial and local levels? Looking at the annual audited accounts of major political parties submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) it seems that all the parties are existing on a very fragile funding base. Political parties in Pakistan submit annual audited accounts indicating their income, expenditure, source of funds and assets and liabilities to the ECP to qualify for an election symbol. Since 2003 these accounts have been made public.According to the 2004-05 ECP gazette the ruling party is the richest party. The Pakistan Muslim League (PML) started with an opening balance of Rs 1.6 million, raised Rs 21 million during the year and spent Rs 15 million. The second richest party is the Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith Pakistan with an opening balance of Rs 162,206 and Rs 8.7 million raised and Rs 8 million spent during the year. Interestingly, while the Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith is a member of the six-party alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, its president was elected to the Senate of Pakistan on a PML-Nawaz ticket.The third richest party in the country was the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). It had an opening balance of Rs 341,312 and raised Rs 6.3 million. The annual expenses of the MQM came to Rs 6.2 million. The Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan’s income during 2004-05 was Rs 3.4 million but it spent Rs 3.8 million.In all, 45 parties submitted their accounts. This included fourteen with representation in the national or provincial assemblies. The Election Commission of Pakistan refused to accept the accounts submitted by the Pakistan People’s Party headed by Benazir Bhutto stating that “This Party does not exist on the record of the Election Commission.” However, the PPP-Parliamentarians had an opening balance of Rs 1,000 and raised Rs 579,075, spending only Rs 150,675 during the year.The situation of other major political parties is as follows: Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (income Rs 2.5 million, expenditure Rs 2.3 million), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (income Rs 1.9 million, expenditure Rs 1.9 million), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Sami) (income Rs 142,700, expenditure Rs 155,395), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (income Rs 2 million, expenditures Rs 1.7 million), PPP-Sherpao (income Rs 376,104, expenditure Rs 370,174) and PML-Functional (income Rs 500,000, expenditure Rs 395,000). Among political alliances only the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) submitted its accounts, starting with an opening balance of Rs 32,885, raising Rs 600,000 and spending Rs 631,574. Jamaat was the biggest donor to the MMA with a contribution of Rs 400,000. This information exposes the financial health of political parties in the country. With such resources how can parties effectively reach out to over 70 million voters in the country; train their office bearers and workers in policy making, campaign and communication related tasks; or run well-equipped offices at the national, provincial and local levels? Accounts details reveal that only five parties had to pay rent for their offices/secretariats. The MQM paid the highest rent – Rs 624,000 per annum. The Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan paid Rs 25,000. The Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party’s rent was Rs 566,550, the rent for the Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Lahore office alone was Rs 126,000; the ruling PML paid Rs 66,000. It is difficult to understand the variation in rental costs claimed by some of the parties when you consider the rents most citizens have to pay. The annual salary of 11 major political parties comes to just Rs 6.3 million, with the PML paying the most money for salaries.In terms of assets, the ruling PML is worth Rs 34.4 million, the PML-N Rs 24 million, the Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith Rs 22 million, the MQM Rs 1.5 million and the Jamaat-e-Islami Rs 1.1 million.The nature of political party funding shapes the dynamics of political processes in the society. Democracies thrive on healthy political parties. But political parties need to raise and spend money in order to exist, organise, campaign and communicate with voters. In Pakistan parties mostly rely upon the leader’s purse or a highly secretive system of donations. In the Global Corruption Report 2004 published by Transparency International Pakistan figured in a category of states where investment in political parties could produce policy outcomes sought by influential investors. Given that the poor have a limited capacity for such investment, it is no wonder that democracy rarely seems to be working for them. Can we explore the option of public funding for parties in Pakistan? There could be a number of ways. Out of the 66.7 million registered voters only 25 million voted in the 2002 elections. If every political party represented in the National Assembly is paid Rs 10 annually for every vote polled there would be an additional burden on the exchequer of only Rs 250.9 million. Another option could be to reduce the legal spending limit for candidates while allowing them free mailing facilities and free time on television and radio.An independent Political Parties’ Commission, established with equal representation of the government, political parties and civil society for the fair distribution and monitoring of such funds, can take up the job. Such reforms are vital because reliance on only secret slush funds of the “agencies” has resulted in distortions and weakened the political system. Of course, this is only part of the problem (and part of the solution).