Ban foreign money from elections
thenassauguardian editorial
The Bahamas has been an independent country for 37 years. Majority rule came about in 1967. Since these two landmark events, our leaders have not seen the need to create rules surrounding election financing.
And we the people have not demanded that these rules be created.
Currently a slack system exists. Anyone with a bag of money can give that money to any politician or political party. And that’s that.
There is no public disclosure required. There is no accountability by politicians or political parties.
It has been rumored – and these rumors are likely true – that drug dealers, foreign investors seeking favors and foreign governments have given money to candidates and political parties in The Bahamas in the past.
Campaign finance reform has many components. We shall focus on three areas.
As a start to a process that should have begun a long time ago, The Bahamas should ban foreign money from its elections. It should also require public disclosure of donations over a certain level. And, a constitutionally independent electoral commission should be established to oversee the election process.
In democracies, only citizens can vote. Election contributions are powerful tools of influence. Money in elections is just as powerful as the process of voting, as it pays for advertising, which influences thought and behavior.
If foreigners cannot vote, they should not be allowed to sit on the sideline and influence who is elected in order to satisfy their own set of narrow interests.
According to the Federal Election Commission in the United States, a ban on foreign contributions to elections came about in 1966 in that country.
The second step to reform should be disclosure. In The Bahamas people give money to political parties. Then they get contracts when the party wins government. The bigger the donation, the bigger the contract received.
If a rule exists that makes public all donations over a certain amount, it would be harder for parties to simply share out state resources to friends.
A website should exist with the audited books of political parties, allowing citizens and the media to scrutinize who has given money to whom and what favors were received in return.
To oversee these initial reforms, it would be necessary to create a constitutional electoral commission.
If the rules governing the commission are not enshrined in the constitution, politicians will interfere with the body to ensure it cannot regulate the system.
The body should be led by a judge – someone with high integrity who has demonstrated impartiality.
The commission should be appointed by an extraordinary vote of Parliament – two-thirds or more – and it should be comprised of other similarly impartial people.
Additionally, an automatic funding mechanism should be set up to ensure the commission is adequately funded. Otherwise, the parties would ensure the commission does not have enough money to carry out its mandate.
These few steps are a mere beginning to campaign finance reform in The Bahamas. Being allowed to vote is only a small part of the democratic process. It is necessary to put these reforms in place so governments are accountable to all the people once elected, rather than the few who fund them.
thenassauguardian editorial
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