LAHORE: The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) has called for reforms for strengthening the political finance regulatory framework in the country.

Briefing the media about its report titled `State of Political Finance in Pakistan,` here on Wednesday, Pildat founder president Ahmed Bilal Mehboob highlighted the importance of accountability and transparency in political finance for any democratic country.

He said the enforcement of political finance laws should be improved through extensive monitoring mechanisms.`The audit and accounts personnel within the political finance wing should undergo rigorous training. Investments should be made in technology and data management systems.

A set percentage of political finance records, obtained from political parties and individuals, should be chosen at random for inspection regularly,` he said.

Alena Sadiq of Pildat highlighted the gaps and ambiguities in the current regulatory framework for electoral finance.

`While strict legal spending caps existfor candidates during elections, Section 132 (5) allows for a way around the limits by allowing third parties to spend money on behalf of a candidate without the consent of the candidate.Moreover, while candidates are required to report expenditures, they are not required to report the identity of donors. The law is also particularly vague when it comes to the disclosure of political parties` election expenditures.

While Section 211(2) mandates the submission of political parties` election expenses, it does not specify a reporting deadline or require public disclosure.

The briefing further touched upon non-electoral political finance, including the permitted and prohibited sources of funding for political parties, referencing the high-profile PTI foreign funding case as a significant example.

The ECP`s 2023 annual reportreveals that 1,190 members of the national and provincial assemblies submitted their financial disclosures (Form B) for the financial year ending June 30, 2022.

However, a Gazette notification by the ECP, dated Jan 21, 2023, disclosed that 271 representatives from the Senate, national, and provincial assemblies had failed to submit their Form B within the stipulated time frame.

Likewise, 168 out of 175 registered political parties were required to submit their statement of accounts for the financial year 2022-23, but only 107 parties complied by the due date, while 40 out of 59 parties submitted after being issued show-cause notices for non-compliance.