Political Party Finance

Over time the political funding landscape of the world has changed significantly. Various political systems have come and gone and very rarely political ideas are exempt from this natural change. The funding of political parties has also fluctuated dramatically, however in recent decades the world has seen a major spike in political party funding.

In todays modern societies political parties are a primary component of the majority of democratic states. One could say that political parties provide a platform for citizens with common political ideologies, interests and goals to unite as one organization. Through these political parties citizens have the opportunity to campaign for a public office, highlight the interests and needs in their local

According to Claudio Weber Abramo, executive director of TI Brazil, “parties and candidates in the 2010 presidential election, spent roughly $2 billion. Nearly 98% of winner Dilma Rouseff's campaign donations and 95.5% of her main opponent's came from corporations”, says Abramo. One could say that this sheds light on the problem of politician’s failure to conjure relationships and common ideals with their constituents. "This is an enormous problem," Abramo told CNN. "The distribution of money reveals something deeper in the Brazilian political landscape, which is that citizens are not very much concerned about supporting parties and having a political life." (Nick Thompson, 2014)6

There are many who feel that corporate spending should be totally eradicated from the political process in Brazil, however Abramo thinks that will only result in the donations and corporate influence on politics in the country being significantly more difficult to track. "The interests are still there even if you prohibit corporations from donating to candidates above the board," he told CNN. "They will do it in a hidden way, and they will lose visibility." (Nick Thompson,

Nigerian legislation allows the Nigerian electoral commission the constitutional right to set a maximum spending limit for parties, however the commission never exercised this right to do so prior to the 2011 election, according to Ohman. "Parties can do whatever they want, there's no limit to the amount they can spend," Ohman told CNN. "Candidates do have limits, but the money they get from their parties is excluded from that limit."

While the 2011 elections were hailed as a step forward in Nigeria's evolution as a young democracy, the lack of restraint on political spending is a worrying development for election monitors. UK corruption monitor Chandu Krishnan says the vast quantity of money at the disposal of political parties is a global problem. "In many countries across the world, the cost of elections is increasing," he told CNN. "If parties and politicians can't find the resources from the state, there is an increasing desperation to seek them from private sources and that is where the corruption comes in." (Nick Thompson,