PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union

A parliament that is accountable I 109
To compensate for potentially lost income to parties as a result of the
changes in eligibility of donors, an annual allowance to registered
parties is now provided in the amount of $1.75 per vote received by the
party in the previous general election (to be adjusted for inflation),
provided that the party has received either 2% of the valid votes cast
nationally or 5% of the votes in the ridings where the party ran
candidates. This is designed to be revenue neutral as it is believed that
financially healthy political parties contribute to the viability of the
electoral process. The changes also added an incentive to encourage
contributions by individuals by doubling the portion of an
individual’s political donation that is eligible for a 75% tax credit,
from $200 to $400.
Further online reading about party financing:
Austin, R. and Tjernström, M. (eds) (2003). Funding of parties and election
campaigns. International IDEA
Bryan, S. and Baer, D (eds.) (2005). Money in politics: a study of party financing
practices in 22 countries. National Democratic Institute
International IDEA (2005). Political finance database.
Johnston, M. (2005). Political parties and democracy in theoretical and practical
perspectives: political finance policy, parties, and democratic development.
National Democratic Institute
Moneyandpolitics.net.
Monitoring public opinion
One feature that can contribute to the accountability of parliaments is the
regular assessment of their public standing through opinion surveys, though
only a few parliaments conduct these in any systematic way. Mostly we rely
for such assessments on the findings of the regional ‘barometer’ surveys
(Latinobarometer, Afrobarometer, etc.). These confirm a conclusion already
suggested earlier, that parliaments as an institution do not stand high in public