Political Parties in Africa: Challenges for Sustained Multiparty

No. Country Direct public funding Indirect public funding
International Idea
12 São Tomé and Prîncipe N/A Free media access and equal
broadcast time. Entitled to
special tax deduction status
13 Seychelles Election period, election
campaign, dependent on
performance at current
elections and number of
candidates put forward in the
present elections
14 Sierra Leone No No
15 South Africa Election period and between
elections, general party
administration, election
campaign activities; equal
funding, current representation
in the legislature
16 Tanzania Election period only, election
campaign activities, equal
funding, dependent on
performance at current
elections
Free media access and equal
broadcast time
Free media access and equal
broadcast time
Free media access and equal
broadcast time
Source: Compiled from the ACE database, http://www.aceproject.org, downloaded August 2006.
Samuel Fambom’s (2003) work illustrates that the direct and indirect flow of public
funds to African political parties has not been appreciated or fully recorded. Another
problem is that political parties, particularly opposition parties, often accuse the
governing party of using public funds to finance its election campaigns, denying
them access to the public media and at times creating draconian laws that restrict the
opposition parties’ access to public resources.
Famborn (2003) goes further to quantify public subsidies for political parties in
African democracies by year of introduction, recipient, basic allocation criteria and
total amount paid per political party (see Table 6.5).
Only Benin, Mali and Niger impose a ceiling on political party finance whereby no
party is allowed to receive more than 20 per cent of its own resources (in Benin and
Mali) or 50 per cent of the political parties’ own resources (in Niger).
Party Structures and Internal Organization