Cost of politics

From 31 January to 1 February 2017, Westminster Foundation for Democracy hosted 66 experts, academics and politicians from four countries in West Africa –Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Senegal –for WFD’s first Regional Cost of Politics Conference.

This report aims to begin the process of examining issues around the cost of politics- with a view to identifying appropriate policy and other responses that both national authorities and civil society groups, and the donor community, can consider. WFD has conducted research in Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Nigeria, Uganda and Ukraine, examining the costs to individuals of becoming involved in parliamentary politics.

Sierra Leone has been making steady progress in consolidating democracy since emerging from a decade long civil war that spanned the 1990s. Four violence-free elections have been held since 1996 with a peaceful transfer of power starting in 2007. However,  significant challenges that remain. Fifteen years after the end of the civil war, the country continues to face widespread poverty and systemic corruption. The political will to fight corruption has been questioned by citizens on many occasions and this is undermining trust between government and citizens.

This objective of this background paper is to conduct primary research on the cost of parliamentary politics in Ukraine; the financial implications of running for a seat in the national parliament (Rada), and the cost incurred by an MP once in office.

It is not a surprise that the cost of entering and dealing with politics has reached the ceiling for what has been traditionally called a typical political party electoral campaign. In a world in which the media plays a crucial role in the promotion and vilification of politicians and political parties, the so-called ‘incestuous’ link between politics and the media has nurtured many hidden and semi-disclosed expenses. On the other hand, efforts have been made to strengthen the control of money spending and other types of corruptible and clientelistic behaviour by political parties.

Since returning to democratic governance over two decades ago, competitive elections have been salient features of Ghana’s multi-party politics. Regular elections between competing political parties and candidates have been the dominant method of choosing representatives to the legislature and composing the government.

The Kyrgyz Republic is the sole democracy to emerge from the Central Asian post-Soviet states. While the country has experienced two revolutions in the past ten years, it has emerged as a stable parliamentary system in the region. But the country has seen a dramatic increase in the cost of politics within the last decade that threatens to undermine the fledgling democracy.