EC proposes 50% state party funds on voter base

Elections Commission (EC) has put forward a proposal to amend the existing law governing the allocation of state funds to political parties.

The proposed amendment aims to allocate 50% of the state budget funds to political parties based on the proportion of votes they receive in elections, marking a shift from the current system which relies mainly on party membership numbers.

The draft bill outlining this change was completed by the EC and shared with political parties a week ago. The EC held a meeting with the representatives of political parties today to further discuss the details of the proposal.

EC member and spokesperson Hassan Zakariya explained the key provisions of the draft bill, emphasising that 50% of the total budget allocation for political parties would be tied to their performance in recent elections.

Specifically, 30% of the allocation will be determined by the party’s vote share in the most recent parliamentary elections, while 20% will be based on their vote share in the most recent local council elections.

The remaining 50% of the budget would continue to be allocated based on the number of members each party has, as is the case in the current law.

Under this system, a party must have at least 10,000 members to qualify for 25% of the state funding, and each party reaching 25% membership would receive an additional allocation.

Zakariya stated that the EC plans to send the draft bill to the Attorney General's Office for review and approval later this week.

According to the existing law, 0.1% of the total state budget is reserved for political parties, but only for those with more than 10,000 registered members. The distribution of these funds is currently based on the proportion of members each party has.

The proposed amendment would modify this system by tying half of the allocation to the parties’ electoral performance, with the goal of encouraging greater voter engagement and rewarding parties based on their popularity in elections.

The EC has been discussing the need for these changes with political parties for some time. Several meetings have been held in the past to address the growing concerns around the current membership-based system of fund distribution.