By Tharumalee Silva The Election Commission (EC) is taking new steps to implement a expenditure ceiling on polls campaign financing in efforts to conduct a free and fair presidential election. The framework handed over to the Attorney General’s (AG) Department for legal drafting in June 2019 is still pending before the Department. The EC is hopeful of implementing the new reform in the wake of the 2019 presidential elections, Election Secretariat Director General Saman Rathnayake said. “Before the 1977 Constitution was introduced, there was a practice among all candidates campaigning for elections, where the candidates disclosed their election finances so there would be complete transparency,” said Rathnayake. He further stated that upon introducing the new Constitution, this practice was discontinued, and he expressed the need for its reinstatement. “It is very important that we once again go back to our old methods, as candidates can now buy votes using their money, and it’s not ethical. Further, all main political parties have the capacity to spend extravagantly during their campaigns which, in turn, is not fair to the minor political parties unable to source similar investments,” he said. Further clarifying, Rathnayake stated that it is also unfair to the educated people who cannot afford to campaign for elections. “By introducing this new reform, there will be no disparity and everyone will be able to contest for elections after their potential is considered and not their wealth,” he stated. The Director General further informed that the EC initiated the process to gazette this new reform and hoped it would be for the betterment of the country. According to the Library of Congress, the law in Israel “applies limits on campaign contributions and expenditures in both primaries and general elections. An increased ceiling on contributions is provided to candidates who provide timely notice of intent not to receive direct governmental funding. Each participating party and candidate list is given free campaign broadcasts during a 14-day period before the elections. The length of the broadcasts is determined in accordance with a formula that is composed of a fixed amount, extended by additional time calculated in correlation to the number of members the party or list had in the outgoing Knesset”. Combating corruption Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) Executive Director Manas Makeem said this reform was a must in order to combat corruption. “After politicians are elected to Parliament, they sell their car permits and other parliamentary privileges and obtain illegal money, which in turn is spent on such things as election campaigns,” he said. In Japan, the law sets limits to the annual donation amount for political campaigns. These limits regulate aspects ranging from the amount donated to the person the donation was received from. Makeem further reiterated that this also solves the problem of uneducated individuals who come from wealthy backgrounds entering politics, stating: “Sometimes, the educated and the people who have proper knowledge about policy reforms cannot come forward and contest for elections due to them not being able to afford election campaigns.” In the UK too, legislature to reduce and limit campaign financing has been in place since 1883. The limitations in this legislature focus on limiting the expenditure of political parties or individual candidates rather than imposing limits on the donations received or expenditure incurred. According to Rathnayake, the first draft of this legislation to introduce a maximum limit for campaign financing has been drafted and submitted to the AG’s Department for legal drafting, following which they will present the legislature to Parliament. Upon inquiry, Rathnayake also stated that so far, the AG’s Department had been unclear on whether or not this reform could be adopted. Further shedding light on the matter, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) Right to Information Manager Sankhitha Gunaratne stated: “Our position is that this action is absolutely necessary and essential. Contributions and donations should be done transparently so that voters can make well-informed decisions when casting their ballots. There should also be many policy decisions on what the definite limit is when creating a ceiling for campaign financing.” She further noted that TISL will receive a draft of the proposed campaign finance bill by the EC next week. The proponent of the campaign finance bill, the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) also gave its insights on the status of the bill. PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi stated that the campaign finance bill was first introduced in 2013 and a cabinet subcommittee headed by Parliamentarian Faiszer Musthapha was appointed. “We proposed the campaign finance bill and MP Musthapha said that he would present it to Parliament, after which we consulted all monitoring organisations such as TISL and the EC and considered foreign campaign finance bills as examples in order to come up with a comprehensive bill for us,” said Hettiarachchi. He stated that under the counsel of Attorney-at-Law Jagath Liyana Arachchi, a practical draft was prepared and handed over to Parliament, the Prime Minister, and President, but the bill was not taken up for discussion. “Now, the EC has admirably introduced a new and more comprehensive campaign finance bill, taking the draft which was presented by us as a guide. Parliament approved the bill and sent it forward for legal drafting. It was forwarded to the AG’s Department on 15 August,” he said. Hettiarachchi further noted that many parliamentarians spent extravagantly on their election campaigns; so much so that it’s escalated to a situation where they buy votes by providing electricity, water, and houses for civilians in their districts when elections near. “We have posed a limit for donations that a candidate can accept for election campaigns.” • Legislation pending before AG’s Dept. Important reforms in the campaign finance bill According to Hettiarachchi: •Setting limitations on donations for election campaigns in order to prevent candidates from granting unethical favours once they are elected into office. •Introduction of separate bank accounts for candidates where campaign financing will be carried out, which should be audited and submitted to the Election Commission upon the conclusion of elections. •Introduction of a separate unit to monitor the campaigns, including the Sri Lanka Police, representatives of the Department of Inland Revenue, the Attorney General’s Department, Election Commission, and other authorities.