Public funding to political parties: a forward-looking approach (original) (raw)

Access to financial resources shapes politics and affects the nature of political representation. A non-regulated political market unavoidably creates disparity between political actors, with repercussions on the equality of opportunity in electoral competition and on democratic processes more broadly. Public funding to political parties has been introduced in European countries with this very justification, to limit the influence of big and powerful donors in the political process, prevent corruption, and avoid excessive disparity in political competition. However, by no means public funding provisions alone can meet these objectives. In order to curtail undue influence on the political process, comprehensive and coherent legal frameworks should be established. Only by doing so can public funding achieve its democratic goals of reducing the potential for corruption.