2007 Assessment
Egypt: Integrity Indicators Scorecard
| Egypt: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Political Financing | ||
| Indicators | Score | |
| 20 | Are there regulations governing political financing? | 86 |
| 21 | Are the regulations governing political financing effective? | 58 |
| 22 | Can citizens access records related to political financing? | 0 |
Indicator and sub-Indicator Details
| 20 | Are there regulations governing political financing? | |||||||
| 20a: In law, there are regulations governing private contributions to political parties. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: In law, there are regulations governing private contributions to political parties. These contributions are registered in the financial records of the political parties, and donors are given receipts. According to law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005, private and member contributions are registered so as to be subtracted from the taxable income of the donors. Thus contribution data are disclosed to every financial checking apparatus. References: www.sis.gov.eg; Law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005
|
||||||||
| 20b: In law, there are limits on individual donations to candidates and political parties. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: In law, political parties must declare the donations received in the party's newspaper and any other daily newspaper within one month if the sum of the donation is greater than 10,000 pounds (US$1,825) at one time or greater than 100,000 pounds (US$18,254) per year. Donations are subtracted from the taxable income of the donors. References: Law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005; www.sis.gov.eg
|
||||||||
| 20c: In law, there are limits on corporate donations to candidates and political parties. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: Corporate donations to political parties or candidates must be declared within a month. The state (the greatest institution) support all registered political parties with a sum of 100,000 Egyptian pounds (US$18,254) per year to support administrative activities of the party. In addition, the state gives all political parties 5,000 pounds (US$912) for each member in the People's Assembly (legislature) or Shora (consultative) Council, with maximum of 500,000 pounds (US$91,270) for every party. Corporate donations to parties and candidates often do not exceed 100,000 pounds a year, and are always registered in the records of the party. References: www.sis.gov.eg
|
||||||||
| 20d: In law, there are limits on total political party expenditures. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: In law, there are no limits on total political party expenditures, but law prevents political parties from spending their money on activities other than those that achieve the goals and purposes stated in the regulations and bylaws of the parties. Political parties must deposit their money in Egyptian banks and keep regular registers showing income and expenditure according to the regulations and bylaw of the party. References: Law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005
|
||||||||
| 20e: In law, there are requirements for disclosure of donations to political candidates and parties. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: In law, political parties must declare the donations received in the party's newspaper and any other daily newspaper within one month if the sum of the donation is greater than 10,000 pounds (US$1,825) at one time or greater than 100,000 pounds (US$18,254) per year. As for candidates, law no. 73/1956 gives the authority responsible for running the election process the Higher Committee for Elections the right to monitor donations to candidates and to make sure that candidates' expenditures do not exceed the maximum limit for expenditure defined by the committee. References: Law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005; Law no. 73/1956, amended by law no. 173/2005
|
||||||||
| 20f: In law, there are requirements for the independent auditing of the finances of political parties and candidates. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: Law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005 states that the Central Accounting Apparatus is the authority entitled to audit all financial transactions of political parties. The Central Accounting Apparatus is entitled to regularly audit all financial transactions of the political parties so as to make sure that the party's income and expenditure are correct. Political parties must give the Central Accounting Apparatus full opportunity to make all needed financial audits. The Central Accounting Apparatus, an independent apparatus that directly follows the president of the republic, prepares an annual report on the financial affairs of political parties and notifies the head of the Political Parties Committee of these reports. In case there are financial breaches, the Central Accounting Apparatus binds the Political Parties Committee to notify the administrative prosecution and afterwards the Higher Administrative Court. References: Law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005;
|
||||||||
| 20g: In law, there is an agency or entity that monitors the political financing process. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: Law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005 gives the Central Accounting Apparatus the authority to monitor political financing process of all parties. Law no. 173/2005 established the High Committee for Elections and authorized it to monitor political financing process of all parties and candidates, whether in presidential or legislative elections. It is the first time in Egypt's political history that such a committee exists. The committee consists of the minister of Justice as its president and three working judges and six public figures, not belonging to any political party, as members. The People's Assembly nominates four members and the Consultative Council nominates the other two. The mandate of the committee is six years and is published by a decree of the president of the government. Pervious election experiences proved that the High Committee for Elections is unable to run and monitor election and political financing processes. This violates the principle of equality between different parties and candidates. Certain parties and some candidates make use of large sums of money, while others are lacking minimal sources. In the 2005 elections, political financing by political parties and candidates exceeded the maximum limit, 70,000 pounds (US$12,777) for each candidate. The High Committee for Elections could not control these exceedings or hand guilty persons to the court. References: Law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005; Law no. 73/1956, amended by law no. 173/2005
|
||||||||
| 21 | Are the regulations governing political financing effective? | |||||||
| 21a: In practice, the limits on individual donations to candidates and political parties are effective in regulating an individual's ability to financially support a candidate or political party. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: In practice, there are no limits on individual donations to candidates and political parties. These donations often take forms that cannot be monitored or registered and remain known only between the donor and the candidate. But individual donations to political parties are usually registered in the party's financial records and are subtracted from taxable income of the donors. References: Law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005; Samer Solaiman, Political Participation in Legislative Elections, The Egyptian Association for Community Participation, Cairo, 2006, P. 91.
|
||||||||
| 21b: In practice, the limits on corporate donations to candidates and political parties are effective in regulating a company's ability to financially support a candidate or political party. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: Corporate donations to political parties or candidates must be declared within a month and are subtracted from the taxable income of the donors. The state (the greatest institution) supports all registered political parties with a sum of 100, 000 Egyptian pounds (US$18,254) per year forthe administrative activities of the party. In addition, the state gives all political parties 5,000 pounds (US$912) for each member in the People's Assembly (legislature) or Shora (consultative) Council, with maximum of 500,000 (US$91,270) pounds for every party. Corporate donations to parties and candidates often do not exceed 100,000 pounds a year, and always registered in the records of the party. But in Egypt companies are still not involved in the political process. The only contribution allowed by companies and businessmen is that of supporting the president of the republic and the ruling party by businessmen related to the political regime. In the last presidential elections it was known that certain businessmen, who are at the same time ministers or legislators, heavily financed the advertising campaign of president Mubarak. On the contrary, the government has been arresting businessmen and entrepreneurs suspected of financing the political activities (mainly in legislative and consultative elections) of the Muslim Brothers group, a politically prohibited group. References: www.sis.gov.eg; Samer Solaiman, Political Participation in Legislative Elections, The Egyptian Association for Community Participation, Cairo, 2006, P. 91.
|
||||||||
| 21c: In practice, the limits on total party expenditures are effective in regulating a political party's ability to fund campaigns or politically-related activities. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: In addition to the state support of political parties (100,000 thousand Egyptian pounds (US$18,254) per year), political parties have multiple sources of income: member fees and contributions, revenues of investing the party's funds in such activities as publishing papers and books and running its printing houses for commercial purposes. In practice, all political parties, except the ruling National Democratic Party and to some extent Al-Wafd (Delegate) party, are in severe short of money. Only the ruling party because of its control of the country's resources and its mutual-interest relationships with businessmen, and Al-Wafd party as the party of the old and new feudal and capitalist class, are able to fund their campaigns or politically-related activities. Given the disinterest of businessmen in politics, their fear for supporting parties other than the ruling one, the very weak memberships of all parties and the weak support by the state, all parties in Egypt other than the ruling one are in severe shortage of money for funding their political activities. References: Samer Solaiman, Political Participation in Legislative Elections, The Egyptian Association for Community Participation, Cairo, 2006, P. 91.
|
||||||||
| 21d: In practice, when necessary, an agency or entity monitoring political financing independently initiates investigations. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: Political parties' money is in law public money that is organized by the criminal law. Leaders and employees of political parties are dealt with as public servants and subsequently treated according to the Criminal Law and illegal profiting law no. 62/1975. In case of financial crimes, the head of the Political Party Committee goes to the Administrative Court, an independent authority, asking it to expeditiously dissolve the party and distribute its resources and determine the agencies to which party resources have to be returned. The court must resolve the issue in 30 days, at the most. References: Law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005; Law no. 62/1975 concerning illegal profiting
|
||||||||
| 21e: In practice, when necessary, an agency or entity monitoring political financing imposes penalties on offenders. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: In practice, law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005 for organizing political parties states that the Central Accounting Apparatus an independent authority that directly follows the president of the republic - is the authority entitled to audit all financial transactions of political parties. In case there are inancial breaches, the Central Accounting Apparatus notifies the Political Party Affairs Committee, which in turn informs the administrative prosecution and subsequently the Supreme Administrative Court. The High Committee for Elections, established by law no. 173/2005 for organizing political parties, is authorized to bring the offenders before the Supreme Administrative Court. All these agencies do not impose penalties on offenders, they just convert the issue to the court. References: Law no. 40/1977, amended by law no. 177/2005; Law no. 73/1956, amended by law no. 173/2005
|
||||||||
| 21f: In practice, contributions to political parties and candidates are audited. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: In practice, it is difficult to audit the contributions to political parties and candidates. In the last presidential elections, the Higher Committee for Elections defined the maximum limit of advertising for one candidate not to exceed 500,000 pounds (US$91,270), whereas the advertising campaign of the candidate Mohamed Hosni Mubarak (the president of the republic) exceeded several million pounds, in addition to the countless contributions by companies, businessmen and individuals. The last legislative elections also saw surpasses of the maximum amount for advertising for the one candidate. The new phenomenon in this elections was the election bribery and vote-purchasing. The price of the one vote ranged from 20 pounds to 1,000 pounds (US$3,6 to US$182). That phenomenon resulted from the businessmen entering political battles on the side of the ruling party. As a result, most of the members of the ruling party in the current legislature are businessmen. As analyzed by the Report of the National Campaign for Monitoring the Parliamentary Elections 2005, those businessmen only sought to invest their money to get more money by means of the parliament inviolability. References: The Report of the National Campaign for Monitoring the Parliamentary Elections 2005, edited by Waheed Abd-Al-Majeed, The Human Rights Center for Helping Prisoners, 2006, PP. 118-119.
Peer Review Comments: Some people were unable to nominate themselves because they could not afford the expenses of campaigning to compete against the businessmen who make up 25 percent of the members of parliament.
|
||||||||
| 22 | Can citizens access records related to political financing? | |||||||
| 22a: In practice, political parties and candidates disclose data relating to financial support and expenditures within a reasonable time period. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: In practice, political parties and candidates do not disclose data relating to financial support and expenditures within a reasonable or unreasonable time period. This is because the ruling party (NDP) and its candidates are the main and perhaps the only violators of the transparency principle in disclosing the data relating to financial support and expenditures. The example of the presidential elections mentioned in the answer to question 21f exemplifies the violations made by the ruling party and its candidates, even the president of the republic, in funding their election campaigns. Both majority and minority hide the data relating to financial support and expenditures and do not register them in their records. In the last legislative elections, the Muslim Brothers group competed with the ruling party and its candidates in buying votes, using violence and offering gifts and services. References: Law no. 73/1956, amended by law no. 173/2005; The Report of the National Campaign for Monitoring the Parliamentary Elections 2005, edited by Waheed Abd-Al-Majeed, The Human Rights Center for Helping Prisoners, 2006, PP. 118-119.
|
||||||||
| 22b: In practice, citizens can access the financial records of political parties and candidates within a reasonable time period. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: In practice, citizens cannot access the financial records of political parties and candidates within a reasonable or unreasonable time period. The main reason is the desire of the ruling party not to give citizens access to the financial records of political parties and candidates, only because these data are not the real advertised expenditures. The ruling party and its candidates use means that contradict with transparency and integrity. References: Law no. 73/1956, amended by law no. 173/2005; The Report of the National Campaign for Monitoring the Parliamentary Elections 2005, edited by Waheed Abd-Al-Majeed, The Human Rights Center for Helping Prisoners, 2006, PP. 118-119.
|
||||||||
| 22c: In practice, citizens can access the financial records of political parties and candidates at a reasonable cost. | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Comments: In practice, citizens cannot access the financial records of political parties and candidates at a reasonable or unreasonable cost. Candidates of both the ruling party, the opposition and independent parties, all violate the principles that must govern the election process, mainly their financial records. All reports on the election processes cite several cases that exemplify these things. References: The Report of the Independent Committee for Monitoring Elections, 2005 ; The Report of the Independent Campaign for Monitoring Elections, 2005; The Report of the Civil Coalition for Monitoring Elections, 2005; The Media Report of the 2005 Parliamentary Elections, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, 2006
|
||||||||
