\n\tThe 2015 Law on political finance and the establishment of the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) gave rise to expectations of higher levels of transparency and accountability in political finance. Yet, the 2019 elections indicated that procedures and control measures put in place had been insufficient to ensure transparency and minimize the dependency of political parties on big corporate donors. Concurrently, the quality of NAPC’s work and its political independence came into question.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe reboot of the NAPC actualizes the need for identifying key priorities of political finance reform. In light of this, IFES in cooperation with prominent Ukrainian civil society organizations, including Center of Policy and Legal Reform (CPLR), Chesno Civic Movement and the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU), prepared an analytical paper<\/a><\/strong> that outlines key barriers for an effective implementation of political finance reform and the measures needed to remove these barriers.<\/p>\n \n\tThe authors of the paper outline legislative efforts needed and suggest the creation of a working group with representatives of NAPC, the Central Election Commission (CEC), political parties, civil society organizations (CSOs) and international experts to facilitate meaningful and inclusive discussion of legislative initiatives in the area of political finance reform. Political reform priorities, among others, include the following:<\/p>\n \n\tThe paper reminds about the important role of civil society and investigative journalists<\/a><\/strong> in achieving transparency and greater accountability in political finance and ends with a call for regular consultations and effective cooperation between them and the NAPC to achieve these shared goals.<\/p>\n \n\tRead the full analysis of IFES Political Finance Reform Priorities here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tSource: IFES.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t\n