23
Cash for campaigns
a Taiwanese academic specialising in elections says the direction the government
is moving on campaign finances is correct. Free TV, televised debates, and support
for advertising expenses, could all be on the cards
by Island Ian
C
HEN TzU-LEONG believes that “Though limits have been introduced reason, it’s my opinion that the govern-
the candidates with most money to reduce the campaign expenses of the ment ought to assume a more interven-
can gain an advantage in the candidates, they haven’t produced any tionist role and organise campaigns fund-
campaign for the upcoming Legislative practical results. This happens in Taiwan ed by the public coffers,’’ he said.
Assembly elections. and, I believe, also in Macau. With the
The professor of the Publicity De- money invested, the campaigns are in- Debates
partment of the Cheng-Chi University creasingly more elaborate and this isn’t a
has called on the government to finance good sign,’’ Cheng said. In respect of Taiwan’s electoral cam-
the electoral campaigns by organising paigns and state participation, Cheng
televised debates and offering free pub- Limits revealed that Taipei organises candidate
licity on TV to level the playing field. debates and TV time for candidates.
On March 24 he organised a discus- The 2005 spending limit for each “The Executive ought to take re-
sion on electoral campaigning strategy Legislative Assembly candidate of sponsibility for part of the campaigning
and its effects. MOP4,320,357.28 has been effectively dou- expenses. I suggest that they finance cam-
Cheng made a speech in which he bled to MOP8,942,959.84, for this year’s paigns, for instance by allowing TV time
said election campaign expenses usually, elections. This corresponds to 0.02 percent on the public TV channel, organising tel-
override the limit imposed by law and of the MSAR budget for the present year, as evised debates, or supporting the distribu-
used as an example the political disputes stipulated by the electoral law. tion expenses of electoral pamphlets. This
in Taiwan, where candidates spend large Cheng said this doesn’t appear to be will allow candidates with less economic
amounts on TV ads. necessary and that the figure should be capacity to have more chance of getting
Also in Taiwan, a maximum spend- based on parameters such as the number their message across,’’ said Cheng.
ing limit is imposed by law, but this isn’t of voters, the Gross Domestic Product, the He also underlined that the govern-
usually respected. According to the pro- values practised by the publicity industry ment shouldn’t worry too much about vio-
fessor, candidates present expenses that and the level of the population’s wages. lations of the campaigning expenses limit,
do not correspond to the actual amounts “It’s obvious that there is no justice but concentrate instead on guaranteeing
spent and the Government doesn’t have in electoral campaigns where the richest that the elections are not the target of ma-
the capacity to oversee this. candidates have the advantage. For this nipulation or of acts of corruption.
april 2009
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132