1. Digital Solutions for Political Finance Reporting & Disclosure
Sam van der Staak, International IDEA
Define online systems
Make distinction between web-based and software-based

2. About International IDEA
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance is the only global intergovernmental organization with a direct mandate to support democracy worldwide
30 Member States on 6 continents; Member States are the owners of the Institute and provide strategic directions with regards to its budget, work plans.

3. Offices and Member States

4. Do political parties have to report regularly on their finances?
* Source: International IDEA Political Finance database

5. Is information in reports from political parties and/or candidates to be made public?
* Source: International IDEA Political Finance database

6. What are Digital solutions for Political finance reporting/disclosure?
Online (or software) reporting of income & expenditure by political parties.
Online disclosure of income & expenditure of political parties.

7. Online reporting

9. Estonia
Present the examples from Sweden and Estonia of reporting forms.
Exercise 5. Reporting as a party and searching data as a user (20 minutes)
Based on the reporting forms distributed to your group, identify which headings would be relevant for the case of your country according to your national reporting norms. Look at the reporting manuals if clarification is necessary (10 minutes).
Present in plenary (10 minutes)

10. Added value
Saves times (both for oversight agencies and parties/candidates)
Comprehensive records all in one place
More accurate data
Aid verification efforts
Greater public transparency and accountability of online disclosure

11. “In the anticorruption arena, the real value of open data lies in the ability to interconnect multiple datasets to discern patterns and expose signs of corruption”
Stanford Social Innovation Review (2017), Data Disrupts Corruption, Carlos Santiso & Ben Roseth, Spring 2017

12. Good disclosure site User friendly Accesible Searchable Comparable
Downloadable
Timely
Detailed

13. US disclosure of income

15. Brexit: donations

16. Brexit: spending

17. Political Finance Online Reporting and Disclosure Systems around the world
Web-based systems: Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, India, Lithuania, Mexico, Norway, UK
Software-based systems: Argentina, Canada, Sweden, USA
Trend: Almost all of these systems built within last ten years, several in the last couple of years.

18. France, ODIHR election report

19. Why now
Increasing public demand for transparency of office bearers.
Rising technological access.
Pressure from alternative sources to reveal private finance (e.g. Panama papers).

20. Impact
Academic: correlation between transparency requirements of reporting and disclosure, and lower levels of perceived corruption
Anecdotal: increased scrutiny of PF data by civil society and media.
Related fields: business owners declared more income when tax returns became searchable online.

21. International IDEA Support
International IDEA can provide further support to CEC upon their request in the forthcoming months on the following topics or others identified by the agency:
Feasibility study
Facilitation of the strategic planning of the disclosure system
Advice with data mapping
Reporting template design
Regulation design
Drafting of user manuals and training materials
Training of trainers
Multi-stakeholder dialogue, including oversight agency, political parties, CSOs etc.
Peer exchange

22. Questions & Answers Sam van der Staak
Senior Programma Manager, Wider Europe Programme
International IDEA E:
@SamvanderStaak

23. Examples of Civil Society Disclosure Databases
Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Guatemala, India, Italy, Philippines, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA

24. Examples of Political Party
Disclosure websites 24 24