Maputo — Mozambique's National Election Commission (CNE) gave the third installment of state funding for this year's elections campaign to six political parties before they had justified the use of the second installment, thus breaking its own rules on how the funds were to be managed. … (Complete Story)

The government yesterday announced plans to post details of its contracts on the Internet and register service providers. … (Complete Story)

A French appeals court on Thursday halted a judicial probe into luxury homes and cars owned in France by the presidents of three oil-producing African countries, dealing a blow to anti-corruption activists. … (Complete Story)

The African Union (AU) observer mission has recommended that Botswana should consider state funding of political parties to strengthen its democracy and level the playing field. … (Complete Story)

Abuja — Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have traced about 10 million pounds allegedly laundered by former Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Intercontinental Bank Erastus Akingbola to some of his personal foreign accounts. … (Complete Story)

BUJUMBURA — Graft has become a "way of life" affecting all levels of government in Burundi and cost the country 30 million dollars (21 million euros) in the first six months of the year, a corruption watchdog said. … (Complete Story)

The gesture by Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL) and Botswana Breweries Limited (BBL) to give P2 million to political parties is highly commendable. The donation comes at the right time when political parties are engaged in campaigns for this year's general election. Electioneering by its very nature is expensive. … (Complete Story)

A regulation to bring in public funding for political parties for the first time in the nation’s history was introduced late last week, but a last minute addition to the draft left the opposition and ruling party in disagreement. … (Complete Story)

A regulation to bring in public funding for political parties for the first time in the nation’s history was introduced late last week, but a last minute addition to the draft left the opposition and ruling party in disagreement. … (Complete Story)

July 23, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Ethiopian electoral body engaged consultations with the political parties over their financing before adopting the final regulation in this respect. … (Complete Story)

(Ghana) Mr Thomas Nuako Ward-Brew, Presidential Candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) for Election 2008, has reprimanded the People’s National Convention (PNC) for daring to challenge his stance against financial assistance offered to four presidential candidates in the elections. … (Complete Story)

The Institute of Economic Affairs and representatives of the country’s main political parties have appealed to President Mills to push for the quick passage of the presidential transition bill. They are also pushing for the state funding of political parties. … (Complete Story)

JOHANNESBURG - The financially challenged Congress of the People has finally boarded the gravy train of state party political party funding. According to figures released by the Independent Electoral Commission R92,9m has been allocated to political parties represented in parliament for the 2009/2010 financial year … (Complete Story)

When longtime dictator Omar Bongo died earlier this month, he left behind at least 66 bank accounts. The first family owned 45 homes in France, including at least 14 in Paris and 11 on the French Riviera. And they boasted of 19 or more luxury cars, including a Bugatti sports model that cost the Republic of Gabon $1.5 million. … (Complete Story)

Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is denying that the seizure of ex-President Bakili Muluzi's passport was politically motivated. The former president was scheduled to visit the United Kingdom Wednesday for a medical checkup. … (Complete Story)

The recent move by the Nigerian Senate to amend some sections of the Acts setting up the two anti-graft bodies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), with a view to expunging the various sections that circumscribe their independence and hamper their effective operations, is most welcome … (Complete Story)

LUSAKA, Zambia — The fight against corruption in Africa’s most pivotal nations is faltering as public agencies investigating wrongdoing by powerful politicians have been undermined or disbanded and officials leading the charge have been dismissed, subjected to death threats and driven into exile. … (Complete Story)

Lagos — Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in this interaction with some newsmen examines the performance of Nigeria's democracy in the last one decade and laments that money politics remains the disturbing issue in the country. He also outlines other challenges facing the system. IHEANACHO NWOSU was there. … (Complete Story)

Lusaka, Malawi - MMD chairman for elections, Mike Mulongoti has challenged opposition Patriotic Front president, Michael Sata, to produce evidence of how President Banda and the MMD allegedly used funds from the Ministry of Health to campaign in the 2008 elections. … (Complete Story)

French authorities are to investigate the assets of the Gabonese President Omar Bongo, who is accused of misappropriating millions of dollars meant for public services. Here, Christophe Pons of BBC Focus On Africa magazine examines the history of the world's longest-serving republican head of state. … (Complete Story)

Uganda - Members of Parliament have called for the establishment of an Anti Corruption Commission to coordinate the activities of all agencies involved in fighting Corruption. … (Complete Story)

Johannesburg — ANALYSTS yesterday discussed ways to manage and regulate political party funding, an area of contest in election times. … (Complete Story)

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA--A lack of regulation over political party funding was the biggest threat to democracy in South Africa, said political analyst Steven Friedman on Wednesday. … (Complete Story)

Disclosure rules vary widely for lawmakers around the world … (Complete Story)

The former head of Nigeria's anti-corruption unit has had threats made against his life, US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. … (Complete Story)

Kenya's anti-corruption watchdog is suing seven current and former members of parliament for taking illegal allowances worth $250,000 (£166,000). … (Complete Story)

Dr. Kweku Osafo, Chairman of the Political Committee of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), on Thursday said the best way to deal with corruption was for the elite in society to admit that they were the most corrupt and to clean and purge themselves of political corruption. … (Complete Story)

Security operatives have taken Nigeria's former anti-corruption Czar Nuhu Ribadu to an unknown destination, after he was forced out of the venue of the graduation ceremony for members of his course at the country's prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in the northern city of Jos on Saturday. … (Complete Story)

The Independent National Electoral Commission has queried the failure of the Peoples Democratic Party leadership to account for the whereabouts of N50m purportedly transferred from the party’s current account with a new generation bank to another deposit account with the same bank. … (Complete Story)

Two intellectuals have expressed dissenting views on the issue of public funding of political parties in the country. … (Complete Story)

WASHINGTON — Sweeping aside a century-old understanding and overruling two important precedents, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections. … (Complete Story)

Choosing the symbolic date of the one-year anniversary of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich's arrest on federal corruption charges, Gov. Pat Quinn today signed into law the state's first-ever limits on campaign contributions. … (Complete Story)

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Wednesday that cartels are seeking to control territory by sinking drug money into political campaigns and buying off officials before they are even elected. … (Complete Story)

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. — It will take some time to assess the costs and benefits of Jon Corzine's nine years as an elected official. But how much money his political career cost him is now known. … (Complete Story)

To eke out an election victory over the city’s low-key comptroller, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg spent $102 million of his own fortune — or about $174 per vote — according to data released Friday, making his bid for a third term the most expensive campaign in the city’s history. … (Complete Story)

Independent MP Wayne Furbert is calling for a law which would force political parties to disclose financial donations above a certain amount — and reveal where they came from. … (Complete Story)

Michael R. Bloomberg, the Wall Street mogul whose fortune catapulted him into New York’s City Hall, has set another staggering financial record: He has now spent more of his own money than any other individual in United States history in the pursuit of public office. … (Complete Story)

WASHINGTON -- Some of the biggest Wall Street firms are back in the political-spending game after hunkering down while they were getting government bailout funds. … (Complete Story)

A new study aiming to improve transparency in Colombia reveals that 94 per cent of enterprises believe that donating money to political causes is a corrupt practice. … (Complete Story)

Democratic political committees have seen a decline in their fundraising fortunes this year, a result of complacency among their rank-and-file donors and a de facto boycott by many of their wealthiest givers, who have been put off by the party's harsh rhetoric about big business. … (Complete Story)

With a tough loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, the San Diego Chargers are now a middle-of-the-pack team in the National Football League. But the Chargers are leading the league in a different category: political fund-raising. … (Complete Story)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hassan Nemazee, a fund-raiser for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, has been indicted for defrauding Bank of America, HSBC and Citigroup Inc out of more than $290 million in loan proceeds, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday. … (Complete Story)

SO what does a 44-year-old investment banker do when he wants a new career challenge? … (Complete Story)

After vehemently denying that it received funding from controversial developer Mario Hoffman for its 2007 election bid, the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) has admitted that the Salt Cay developer had in fact given them money. … (Complete Story)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A federal judge says Connecticut's public campaign finance law, seen by some as a possible national model, is unconstitutional because it discriminates against minor party political candidates. … (Complete Story)

SÃO PAULO -- The corruption scandal involving José Sarney, the head of Brazil's senate, moved closer to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after a former tax official said she was pressured to stop an audit of Mr. Sarney's family businesses. … (Complete Story)

A MAYOR, a rabbi, and an organ trafficker sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. But the mayors of the New Jersey cities of Hoboken, Secaucus and Ridgefield, a council president, two state assemblymen, numerous other public officials and political operatives, and five rabbis are not laughing. They are among 44 people charged in criminal complaints filed on Thursday July 23rd. The arrests were part of a ten-year federal investigation of both public corruption and an international money-laundering conspiracy. And, indeed, some organ selling. … (Complete Story)

Sens. John McCain and Russ Feingold, the kings of campaign-finance reform, have put a hold on President Obama’s Democratic nominee to the Federal Election Commission. … (Complete Story)

PETER BUNTING, the Opposition spokesman on national security who has responsibility for electoral matters, wants Government to set aside funds in next year's Budget for campaign-finance reform. … (Complete Story)

Decades of lawmaking and court decisions restricting the flow of cash into U.S. elections are on the verge of coming undone, placing President Barack Obama in the unexpected position of presiding over the possible demise of the modern campaign finance regime. … (Complete Story)

Lawrence Duprey's CL Financial Group provided scarcely imaginable largesse to the ruling People's National Movement (PNM) party in the last general election at a time when it was already on the ropes-short on cash and highly leveraged. … (Complete Story)

WASHINGTON — When President Obama arrived at the Mandarin Oriental hotel for a fund-raising reception on Thursday night, the new White House rules of political purity were in order: no lobbyists allowed. … (Complete Story)

Ask any political consultant what is the most important thing needed to win an election, and he will undoubtedly say, "Money and lots of it." But the reality is that while money helps, it doesn't automatically follow that the guy with the most is going to win. Tuesday's primary election in Virginia provides the latest evidence of this fact. … (Complete Story)

Forget all the chatter about the technology geeks transforming politics. To find the truly enduring entrepreneurs, focus on the campaign finance gurus. … (Complete Story)

Judicial reform advocates are hailing yesterday's Supreme Court ruling requiring elected judges to step aside in "extreme" cases where campaign donations may create the perception of bias. The 5-4 decision (PDF) will have wide-ranging consequences for state judicial election law, and highlights the growing role of special interest groups in campaign fundraising. … (Complete Story)

WASHINGTON - In order to institute a key recommendation of its electoral observation missions, the OAS has embarked on a comprehensive initiative to provide model legislation on political party and campaign financing in the Caribbean. … (Complete Story)

WASHINGTON — A day after President Obama announced his choices for some of the most coveted ambassador posts in the world, his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, was asked about their credentials. … (Complete Story)

WASHINGTON — In 1996, Judge Sonia Sotomayor delivered a speech comparing campaign contributions to “bribes” and asking whether elected officials could credibly say they were “representing only the general public good, when private money plays such a large role” in helping them win office. … (Complete Story)

Another potential rival to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has withdrawn from the race, citing the billionaire mayor's spending potential as a reason for not seeking the Democratic nomination this year. … (Complete Story)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Hours after exercising a cherished presidential right Tuesday — naming a Supreme Court nominee — Barack Obama engaged in one of the office's grubbier traditions: raising money for an embattled lawmaker. … (Complete Story)

Three cheers for Macquarie Group's chutzpah - explaining this week why it donated nearly $200,000 across the political divide. … (Complete Story)

TOKYO—Japan's ruling parties bent to pressure from the opposition camp and agreed to hold special parliamentary sessions next month on political funding, in which opposition lawmakers hope to examine a growing funding scandal involving Ichiro Ozawa, a top official of the Democratic Party of Japan. … (Complete Story)

THE NSW Electoral Commissioner has called for an overhaul of the state's electoral legislation, all but ruling out any prospect that next year's election campaign will be publicly funded. … (Complete Story)

Prosecutors are not expected to question Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on hidden contributions to his fund-raising organization, the Mainichi has learned. … (Complete Story)

New Delhi: State funding of elections is not panacea for all ills facing the electoral system, experts, including Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi, said on Saturday. … (Complete Story)

Political donations and campaign funding should be overhauled and the activities of lobbyists should be controlled more tightly, a state parliamentary inquiry has found. … (Complete Story)

Transparency International Indonesia (TII) revealed here Wednesday that political parties had not been transparent about their sources of political funding, raising concerns about the integrity of legislators. … (Complete Story)

Dhaka, Oct 25 (bdnews24.com) – The chief election commissioner on Sunday called for state funding of political parties, while conceding that parties would resist the move. … (Complete Story)

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s public prosecutor questioned a former aide of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama regarding false declarations about political funding, the Sankei Shimbun reported, citing people it didn’t name. … (Complete Story)

THE auditor-general today criticised the finance department's "relatively gentle approach" to MP entitlements after finding that parliamentarians were "double dipping" into taxpayer funds to pay for their campaigns. … (Complete Story)

Font Size: Decrease Increase Print Page: Print Matthew Franklin, Chief political correspondent | September 04, 2009 Article from: The Australian THE Australian Electoral Commission has embarrassed Kevin Rudd by ruling that more than 8000 signs being erected outside publicly funded school building projects are political advertisements. … (Complete Story)

MORE voters oppose than support organisations and groups making donations to political parties, but there is even stronger opposition to election campaigns being funded by taxpayers. … (Complete Story)

Kolkata, West Bengal India July 13 -- Political scientists, politicians and economists are divided over Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s budget proposal of making political donations totally tax-free in a bid to bring in transparency. … (Complete Story)

New Zealand - The Labour Party is renewing its call for state funding of political parties, suggesting a formula that would give the two major parties more than $1.8 million between them. … (Complete Story)

For the adoring residents of one Jakarta slum, little incentive is needed to support popular Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's re-election attempt. But a few dollars are always welcome. … (Complete Story)

The Democratic Party, whose candidate Ts.,Elbegdorj won at the presidential election 2009, spent Tg2.9 billion in its campaign, according to the party’s General Secretary D.Erdenebat. … (Complete Story)

KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 — Umno is mulling over whether to allow a quarter of its three million members to vote in future party elections, in an effort to fight money politics. Under current rules, less than 1 per cent, or about 2,800 members, choose Umno leaders. … (Complete Story)

A YouTube video that sparked government accusations about Russian financing for recent opposition street protests appears to have prompted a proposal by President Mikheil Saakasvhili for changes in regulations on political party financing. … (Complete Story)

KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 – The disqualification of Datuk Seri Ali Rustam’s bid for the Umno deputy presidency may yet see charges of bribery being brought to court. … (Complete Story)

As candidates in Kabul launch their official bids for the Afghan presidency this week, consultants in Washington are helping some of them draw upon American-style campaign tactics to build up their war chests and pull ahead in the polls. … (Complete Story)

RAMAZAN BASHARDOST’S election campaign seems better suited for a student government race than a drive for the presidency of Afghanistan. Each day, dozens of volunteers visit his headquarters, a dust-blown tent on a dirt road, eager to hear his anticorruption platform. … (Complete Story)

BEIJING - A NEW wave of anti-corruption campaigns is sweeping through China, say analysts in the wake of the downfall of two high-ranking officials. … (Complete Story)

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's former opposition leader faced a fresh blow Friday when a businessman admitted in court he had given illegal donations to the politician's office in return for public works contracts. … (Complete Story)

Vote buying topped the list of election violations investigated by police during the nine months of election campaigning preceding the April 9 polls. … (Complete Story)

The forthcoming general elections is very important since it comes in the wake of progress and positive developments on one hand and recent problems in the stock market and real estate, lower corporate profits, layoffs and scams, terrorism and extremism, on the other hand. … (Complete Story)

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has hinted he will run in a crucial election in August, said foreigners exaggerate the extent of corruption in Afghanistan for political reasons, while publicly announcing his earnings on Thursday. … (Complete Story)

Umno information chief Tan Sri Muhammad Muhamad Taib has urged the disciplinary board to announced the names of candidates involved in money politics before the party elections. … (Complete Story)

A businessman suspected of graft claims to have given Rp 3 billion (US$249,895) to House of Representatives lawmaker Abdul Hadi Djamal to help him keep his legislative seat in the upcoming polls. … (Complete Story)

Campaign finance reports filed by the political parties contesting next month’s legislative elections have raised more questions than answers, observers say, leaving many to wonder how parties funding nightly television advertising spots might have so little money to their name. … (Complete Story)

Japanese prosecutors raided the constituency office Wednesday of opposition leader and election favourite Ichiro Ozawa, who dismissed calls to quit in a growing scandal over political donations. … (Complete Story)

LONDON -- An inquiry into a scandal that tarnished British politics found Thursday more than half the House of Commons made excessive or bogus expense claims worth about 1 million pounds ($1.6 million). … (Complete Story)

The Council of Europe has today praised Ireland’s regulation of political party funding, recommending however a number of additional measures in order to increase transparency. … (Complete Story)

Donations to the Conservative party are continuing to outstrip those to Labour ahead of the next general election, according to the latest update from the Electoral Commission today. … (Complete Story)

Prime Minister Gordon Brown will repay £12,415 after an independent audit of all MPs' expenses claims since 2004. … (Complete Story)

HELSINKI — Finland's coalition government won a clear victory in a vote of confidence over political funding in Parliament on Thursday, but pressure mounted on the prime minister over a scandal involving building materials for his house. … (Complete Story)

The Cross-Party Elections Committee convened at the interior ministry for the first time in this pre-election period on Tuesday, chaired by Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos. … (Complete Story)

Azerbaijani parliamentarian Siyavush Novruzov, who is deputy executive secretary of the ruling Yeni Azerbaycan Party, told journalists in Baku on August 10 that when it reconvenes for the fall session, the parliament plans to adopt a new law regulating the activities of, and funding for, political parties. … (Complete Story)

Over the summer Finland's parliamentary parties have come close to unanimity on reforming the legislation on disclosing campaign donations received by political parties, reveals a survey by the Finnish News Agency (STT). … (Complete Story)

The UK legislation seeking to limit non-domicile funding of political parties appears to have been deferred till after the next general election … (Complete Story)

A much-publicised law designed to stop wealthy tax exiles bankrolling political parties has been quietly dropped until after a general election, the Observer has learned. … (Complete Story)

The government could have saved some six million kuna by amending the act on financing political parties. … (Complete Story)

Macedonian parliament on Tuesday approved the motion of amending and supplementing the law on financing of political parties, one of the benchmarks to bring the country closer to the EU. … (Complete Story)

The law governing political party financing in Finland is rather lax in comparison to standards set by other European countries. Finland’s parties receive considerable state support which they are allowed to supplement by soliciting private donations from whomever they wish. The current law does not require transparency and does not provide for any formal monitoring of parties’ accounts. … (Complete Story)

TAXPAYERS are footing a £500million-a-year bill for a 30,000-strong army of elected ­politicians and public servants, it emerged yesterday. … (Complete Story)

The number of politicians and their advisers on the UK public payroll now tops 29,000, BBC research has found. … (Complete Story)

The eight political parties who won more than one per cent of the vote at the July 5 2009 general elections in Bulgaria will get just short of 200 million leva in state subsidies, provided that the newly-elected legislature sees out its full four-year term. … (Complete Story)

A former prominent PASOK official yesterday gave the clearest indication yet that Greece’s political parties bend the rules on campaign contributions when he was called to testify in connection with the alleged payment of almost 500,000 euros to the Socialists by Siemens Hellas. … (Complete Story)

Commons authorities have published the details after a long-running Freedom of Information battle. … (Complete Story)

Funding of political parties in Kosovo remains very mysterious and with a lot of doubts. Funding of campaigns is not made transparent, while sponsorship that comes from business or from other sources are not made transparent either. … (Complete Story)

Gabon's late president, Omar Bongo Ondimba, funnelled money into Jacques Chirac's 1981 presidential campaign, according to Valerie Giscard d'Estaing, the former French president – an allegation that Mr Chirac dismissed yesterday as "totally unfounded". … (Complete Story)

Transparency International Albania, the local branch of the international watchdog, has called on Albania political parties to make public the details of campaign donations and how they are used. … (Complete Story)

In Bulgaria’s June 2009 European Parliament elections, alleging that other parties were buying votes appeared to be the game that anyone could play – and some seemed keen to alleged that vote-buying was the game almost everyone was playing. Ahead of the elections, the issue of vote-buying was being closely watched, against a background of similar allegations in elections in recent years. … (Complete Story)

The government of Kosovo had decided that the behaviour of the political parties in the next local elections should be held in accordance with the new law on financing of the political parties to be adopted soon by the Kosovo Assembly. … (Complete Story)

A survey by Open Society Foundation, published only days before the country goes to vote for the EU parliament, found 20 per cent of Bulgarians ready to sell their vote, although only six per cent would vote as instructed. … (Complete Story)

BELGRADE -- Transparency Serbia's Nemanja Nanadić says it's "very important" that the fight against corruption has received support of President Boris Tadić. … (Complete Story)

They violated the law, but will not be punished because there are no sanctions. It is clear that the laws exist for the EU, Petrovic said. … (Complete Story)

HM Revenue and Customs has begun a fresh investigation into whether MPs could be liable for millions of pounds of unpaid tax for items they claimed on expenses, The Telegraph can disclose. … (Complete Story)

The SDP issued a statement on the financing of the campaign, saying 95 percent was financed with membership fees and donations. … (Complete Story)

As a scandal over legislators’ expense claims shakes Britain’s political elite and raises questions about the probity of Parliament, the junior justice minister stepped down Friday pending an inquiry into expenses claims relating to a second home. … (Complete Story)

There are no signs that Hungary's political parties have the political will to reform campaign financing to make it more transparent, British Ambassador to Hungary Gregory Dorey told a workshop on party and campaign financing in Budapest on Wednesday. … (Complete Story)

JERUSALEM, Aug. 30 -- Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert was indicted Sunday in a corruption scandal that led to his resignation last year and set the stage for a rightward shift in Israeli politics. … (Complete Story)

BEIRUT: Young electoral observers were initially baffled by the extent to which money and politics were inextricably linked in Lebanon’s recent elections. … (Complete Story)

BEIRUT // Ghassan, a 31-year old from Beirut, remains one of Lebanon’s undecided voters with just two days remaining before Sunday’s tight parliamentary race. In fact, he is sure he won’t be deciding which party to vote for until about an hour before the polling ends. … (Complete Story)

DAMASCUS - Iraq is abuzz with stories of new arrests, but not of former Ba'athists or members of the so-called Sunni insurgency, rather it is officials who are part of the post-Saddam Hussein era. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has launched a massive anti-corruption campaign, promising to bring senior officials to justice be they Sunni, Shi'ite or Kurd. … (Complete Story)

Beirut - Michel Aoun, polyglot former military commander and mainstay of the Lebanese Christian community, is running for reform, with his Free Patriotic Party, in Sunday's parliamentary election. … (Complete Story)

ANKARA - When it comes to the prevalence of corruption, the public has little confidence in public institutions, believing that it is common for public servants to receive gifts in exchange for providing services. However, improvements are visible. … (Complete Story)

Tripoli will play a key role in the aftermath of the Lebanese elections as it is a traditional seat of Sunni power and generally decides the prime minister – which is why the three big contestants are spending a lot of money in its impoverished streets. … (Complete Story)

BEIRUT: The election law passed last fall to govern Lebanon's summer polls fell short of many observers' hopes, but it did include several major reforms. One of the most important changes, according to election experts, was the creation of a Supervisory Commission. … (Complete Story)

BEIRUT, Lebanon — It is election season in Lebanon, and Hussein H., a jobless 24-year-old from south Beirut, is looking forward to selling his vote to the highest bidder. … (Complete Story)

Disclosure rules vary widely for lawmakers around the world … (Complete Story)

As mayor, he was able to turn around non-functional La Paz, he is now one of the leading global figures in the fight against corruption and tackles the issue through market-like principles. Seeing corruption as a development issue rather than one to address with a police force, his model is now being implemented in pilot countries throughout Southeast Europe. … (Complete Story)

SANA’A, July 5 — The International Foundation for Electoral Systems, or IFES, has revealed its concerns about delaying the formation of a new election committee to observe the 2009 parliamentary elections. … (Complete Story)