NewsWhore
08-31-2007, 02:30 PM
Julio Cesar Castanos Guzman, president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) warns that political parties are turning into big bureaucracies. As reported in Hoy, he said that the time would come when a cap to the amount of money that parties receive will need to be imposed. If not, they will get "astronomical sums."
Political parties already receive about RD$300 million in non-election years and double that amount in electoral years, as established in the Electoral Law.
Castanos also raised the point that the three leading political parties alone are managing 80% of the abundant resources currently available for funding politics in the country, as reported in El Nuevo Diario.
He explained that the remaining 20% is distributed among all the other parties, of which 12% receive equal sums and 8% according to the proportion of votes obtained in the previous election.
He said that the JCE distributes RD$18 million a month to the PLD, PRD and PRSC, and RD$6 million to the 20 other political organizations recognized by the JCE.
He advocated that it would be fairer if all the resources were equally distributed depending on the number of votes each party secured in the election. He said that a party that receives 5% of the votes should not receive the same amount of funds as one that received less than 1%.
He said that political parties needed to be accountable, as this is "very diluted" right now.
Castanos called for more investment of party funds in educating the politicians of the future and less on propaganda.
The JCE is responsible for civil registry and organization of elections in the DR. Castanos Guzman spoke at a workshop on "Financing of Political Parties".
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)
Political parties already receive about RD$300 million in non-election years and double that amount in electoral years, as established in the Electoral Law.
Castanos also raised the point that the three leading political parties alone are managing 80% of the abundant resources currently available for funding politics in the country, as reported in El Nuevo Diario.
He explained that the remaining 20% is distributed among all the other parties, of which 12% receive equal sums and 8% according to the proportion of votes obtained in the previous election.
He said that the JCE distributes RD$18 million a month to the PLD, PRD and PRSC, and RD$6 million to the 20 other political organizations recognized by the JCE.
He advocated that it would be fairer if all the resources were equally distributed depending on the number of votes each party secured in the election. He said that a party that receives 5% of the votes should not receive the same amount of funds as one that received less than 1%.
He said that political parties needed to be accountable, as this is "very diluted" right now.
Castanos called for more investment of party funds in educating the politicians of the future and less on propaganda.
The JCE is responsible for civil registry and organization of elections in the DR. Castanos Guzman spoke at a workshop on "Financing of Political Parties".
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)