ADVANCES IN POLITICAL PARTY FINANCING


ADVANCES IN POLITICAL PARTY FINANCING IN JAMAICA


Jamaica’s strong tradition of voluntarily chosen,


Hon. Phillip Paulwell, MP is a Cabinet Minister and Leader of the House in Jamaica, having been in Parliament for twenty years. Having served in the Senate from 1995 to 1997, he was elected to represent East Kingston and Port Royal in 1997. A lawyer by profession, he is currently Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, with additional responsibility for parliamentary affairs and electoral matters.


representative government has been enhanced by the presence and activity of political parties, as the vast majority of persons who have contested elections over the years have done so under the banner of one of these organisations. Their integrity and operation is therefore an appropriate subject for scrutiny and legislation.


Jamaica’s laws and


conventions facilitate, promote and protect freedom of choice for electors and entry into representational politics by its citizens. This is reflected in an amendment made to the Representation of the People Act in 2014 immediately following the 70th


anniversary


of universal adult suffrage. The prime objective of this amendment is to improve the regulation and funding arrangements governing political parties.


The Representation of the People Act, passed in 1944 when universal adult suffrage took effect and updated repeatedly thereafter, provides the legislative framework for the nation’s system of parliamentary democracy. It makes provision


164 | The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue Three


concerning the registration of electors, electoral procedure, financial and administrative matters, electoral offences and other relevant subjects. Additionally, Parliament has enacted the Electoral Commission (Interim) Act 2006, thereby establishing the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) whose objects are “to safeguard the democratic foundations of Jamaica by enabling eligible electors to elect, through free and fair elections, their representatives to govern Jamaica.”1


Political party financing in particular is brought into the remit of the ECJ via subsection 6(1) of the legislation, in which the functions of the body are delineated. Paragraph 6(1)(g) empowers the ECJ to “approve political parties eligible to receive state funding with respect to any or all aspects of the electoral process” and paragraph (h) authorises it to “administer electoral funding and financial disclosure requirements.” In keeping with its mandate, the ECJ has submitted three reports to Parliament relating to the financing of political parties and election campaigns in recent times. Its report on


“Jamaica’s strong tradition of


voluntarily chosen, representative government has been enhanced by the presence and activity of political parties, as the vast majority of persons who have contested elections over the years have done so under the banner of one of these organisations. Their integrity and operation is therefore an appropriate subject for scrutiny and legislation.”


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