• Focus turns to upcoming Parliamentary Elections

With Parliamentary Elections approaching on 14 November, it is worth noting that the recent Presidential Election was the first time campaign finance laws were tested since 1977. Presidential candidates who contested the recent polls were required to submit their election campaign expense reports to the Election Commission (EC) by yesterday (12), which will be made public thereafter. 

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, election monitoring missions shared that these laws came with numerous challenges. Despite being a significant step towards promoting transparency and accountability in election spending, the newly introduced campaign finance laws reveal several loopholes and implementation issues. 

Election observers point out that these challenges range from the limited enforcement powers of the EC to the complexities of monitoring campaign expenditure and tracking the origins of donations. As the country prepares for another major electoral event, the effectiveness of these regulations are yet to be observed. 

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, EC Chairperson R.M.A.L. Rathnayake noted that the campaign expenditure limit for Parliamentary Elections would be decided within five days after the conclusion of the nomination period for the polls.

He highlighted voter density, inflation, and other factors as criteria for setting the campaign expenditure limit, saying: “We have a formula we have prepared to determine that.”

Regarding penalties for not submitting reports or providing inaccurate information, Rathnayake said: “We inform the Police and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) about the failure to submit reports. The Police will consult the Attorney General (AG) and file the case. The act contains details regarding the penalties.”

Explaining that the EC did not check the accuracy of the submitted reports, he said: “It is the public and election monitors that can examine and verify if there are any discrepancies. We display it openly within 10 days, after which anyone can access it.”

A foundation for accountability 

Institute for Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies (IRES) Executive Director Manjula Gajanayake said: “When it comes to the effectiveness of this newly introduced law, it is too early to predict or measure its impact.

“Although the election has concluded and results have been announced, the election period is still ongoing. After the results are issued, political parties, their candidates, and independent groups must submit their reports within 21 days.”   

He emphasised that this was the first time Sri Lankan voters would be able to know how much political parties and candidates had spent during their campaigns, including details about contributors. “It is crucial for informed voter choice to know who has donated money and how much has been spent by each candidate,” he pointed out.

“For transparency and accountability, we need to read the reports. Once we review them, we can compare them with our observations and understand how accurately candidates have reported.”

People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi expressed satisfaction that the law, despite its flaws, provided a foundation to hold candidates accountable: “We didn’t have such a law in the past. At least now we have something to work with, even though there are loopholes.”

He highlighted that the new law required candidates to submit income and expenditure reports to the EC within three weeks. “The EC must publish these reports within 10 days, allowing any citizen to access the information,” he explained.

He further noted the importance of verifying the accuracy of the information in these reports. “If discrepancies are found, candidates or citizens can challenge the reports, file election petitions, or monitor opponents,” he stated.

Limited powers 

Gajanayake noted that the EC had limited powers to take action under the current law. “The EC doesn’t have powers. After it receives a complaint, it can submit it to the Police according to election law. In Sri Lanka, the Police is the entity that can submit the reports to the court,” he said, emphasising that the EC should be empowered to take action as well. 

Hettiarachchi also pointed out the need to grant more powers to the EC. “The law should give the commission the power to take legal action. The EC is the entity which actually gets the report, but ultimately, it has no power to take any action. At the Presidential Polls, the Police behaved in a neutral manner. However, timely action might not be taken against those who violate election expenditure law.”

He however added: “There is also public pressure. People are waiting – once the presidential candidates submit their reports, people will analyse them and publish on social media. Therefore, there will be public pressure and some sort of control.”

Loopholes and tracking difficulties 

Gajanayake meanwhile acknowledged that there were obvious loopholes in the new law since it had been introduced after a long period: “It’s only natural that some gaps exist, given that this is the first time since 1977 that campaign finance laws are being enforced.”

He emphasised that it was crucial to determine the effective date to measure the law’s impact: “Even for Parliamentary Elections, the EC will decide on a specific amount within five days after submitting nominations – after 11 October. However, the issue is that candidates are already spending money on their campaigns. They have already started their activities and expenditures have been incurred. 

“Therefore, there is a dilemma about which date should be considered as the starting point. We can’t consider the pre-nomination period even though they have spent money for their campaigns, because the EC sets the specific amount only after nominations are submitted.”

Gajanayake further highlighted the difficulty of tracking the sources of campaign contributions: “They are not allowed to accept contributions from non-Sri Lankans or dual citizens. However, if any candidates have received money from non-Sri Lankan citizens, how do we identify this? Our process is not very effective.”

Hettiarachchi disclosed that the law did not specify a maximum contribution limit for individual donors, which had originally been included in the initial proposal they had drafted: “There is no specificity regarding the amount an individual can contribute to a candidate. 

“In our original proposal, we set limitations. This was to prevent those contributors from controlling an MP after their election. We also suggested that candidates open a separate bank account for campaign funds, ensuring all income related to the election goes into that account, making it easier to monitor. Unfortunately, this aspect was removed from the new law.”

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) Programme for Protecting Public Resources National Coordinator Thushanie Kandilpana voiced similar concerns: “There are no limitations to the amount of money that a person can donate under this provision. As it is more likely for a person to influence a politician if that person has made significant contributions to the election of the same candidate, the politician may abuse his/her power for the benefit of a smaller group.”

When asked how to address the loopholes in the current election campaign expenditure law, Gajanayake stressed that the EC first needed to discuss these gaps with its stakeholders. He suggested convening a broader stakeholder meeting that included political parties, independent groups, election observers, and other relevant participants.  

Insufficient resources 

Meanwhile, Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) Executive Director Ahmed Manas Makeen commented on the challenges in monitoring campaign finance: “The law is very useful, but the real difficulty lies in the monitoring mechanism because there will be over 5,000-8,000 candidates. We will need to deploy a large number of observers to track campaign finance.”

He also highlighted the difficulties in securing resources for monitoring: “Recently, monitoring organisations held an online virtual discussion, but we are yet to secure resources for this campaign finance monitoring mechanism. We are still negotiating with donors for support. If we receive the necessary funds, we aim to cover around 40 electorates.”

Hettiarachchi said: “It is not easy to monitor because campaigns will operate across districts. We are currently trying to establish a system to monitor campaign activities to some extent in collaboration with other observer groups.”

“During the recent Presidential Polls, we observed that some candidates’ online campaigns nearly surpassed the EC’s campaign budget limit. Therefore the EC should focus on determining the ceiling amount per voter based on the context,” Kandilpana said. 

She added: “According to the legislation, the maximum amount that a candidate can spend per voter must be announced within five days after the closing of the call for nominations. This condition is acceptable provided that the ceiling amount is announced shortly after nominations close, because the spending between nomination submission and announcement may not be monitored otherwise.”

Kandilpana also raised concerns about the EC’s current resources for monitoring: “It is unclear if the EC has sufficient resources and a mechanism to monitor election expenditure by each candidate during the election period or to validate expenditure reports submitted by each candidate. 

“If otherwise, the question is whether it would be successful to fully delegate to the public the task of reporting any discrepancy between actual spending and the published expenditure report.”

Chanda Salli Meetare

Discussing the role of the Chanda Salli Meetare (Campaign Finance Meter) – a process spearheaded by TISL and supported by other monitoring organisations – Makeen said: “When the campaign started, we deployed our observers. With limited resources, we faced many challenges in covering ground monitoring. We trained our district coordinators and long-term observers before deploying them in their respective districts. 

“We managed to cover around 35-40 electorates. Observers recorded any kind of expenditure they encountered in the Chanda Salli Meetare system after registering through a link provided to them. The expenditures were then verified by designated officials.”

Kandilpana added: “Everything from developing the app to publishing information was challenging. Obtaining quotations for the observed cost categories was a huge challenge. We made great efforts to confirm the accuracy of the information as well as to publish the received information as soon as possible.” 

When asked about the utilisation of the Chanda Salli Meetare for the upcoming Parliamentary Polls, Hettiarachchi said: “We are trying our best to apply the same mechanism for Parliamentary Elections. However, it’s challenging because we require a lot of resources to deploy observers across the entire country.”

He emphasised the need for a substantial number of observers to monitor both ground campaigns and social media or mainstream media activities: “On an electorate basis, we need at least 160 observers to monitor the ground campaigns effectively. In addition, we have to set up separate teams to observe social media, TV, and radio. This requires significant resources.”

Kandilpana said: “Currently, the website is making the necessary changes targeting the Parliamentary Elections. By now, the required quotations for observation categories have been obtained in full, so we hope it will be possible to observe the Parliamentary Elections without issues.”

Meanwhile, IRES and CaFFE said that they were currently preparing to publish their monitoring reports.