Money is essential for political participation. Political parties and candidates require financial and other resources to organise themselves, formulate their ideas, and communicate them to the public. However, unchecked or opaque funding can allow affluent vested interests to exert undue, disproportionate, or even criminal influence on politics and policymaking. A lack of transparency and controls can lead to the capture of laws and resources by a powerful few, undermining the quality of government and eroding public trust in institutions. For that reason, we put forward these Standards for Integrity in Political Finance as a blueprint for reform.
The standards are a holistic set of measures that describe the effort needed to mitigate corruption risks and promote integrity of, at a minimum, the financing of national-level political parties and election campaigns.
