Crowdfunding election campaigns
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It was around 8 a.m. on Thursday and I was woken up by a call on the landline, a rare call indeed as most of our calls are now received on our mobiles. It was Pedris Appo, short for Appuhamy, a retired agriculture expert who does farming, and still prefers landlines to mobile phones. He has retained the old instrument with the dialling format.“I say…..I read somewhere about crowdfunding of elections. Do you think this would happen in the Sri Lankan context,” he asked. Having woken up after a deep slumber and though I was still drowsy, I recalled an interesting article (which I read last week) discussing this concept and an idea was forming in my mind about today’s column.
“Well I read about this concept and it seems to be popular in most cases of raising funds but not so much about funding political parties at elections,” I said. “Since we have to hold another election – Provincial Council polls – it would be useful to see whether today’s tech-savvy politicians resort to this method,” he said. “I hope so,” I replied.
Ending the call after a long conversation, I quickly surfed the Internet for some data and there was plenty of information relating to crowdfunding of elections. I first came across this concept in an article titled “The promise and peril of Bangladesh’s ‘Youthquake’,” in the Project Syndicate news platform where one paragraph read as….…”Bangladeshi youth are harnessing the energy of street protests to reshape the country’s political culture. For example, they are calling for lowering the voting age to 16 and promoting transparent, crowdfunded election financing instead of opaque or illicit political donations.”
It would be interesting to see how the younger generation of politicians use this model in election financing as opposed to the traditional method of raising funds – contributions by individuals, businesspersons and private companies. In this new model of financing election campaigns, recipient politicians need not kowtow to demands from funders who usually seek benefits via contracts, tenders and other forms of influence – there is nothing called a ‘free lunch’. Through crowdfunding, politicians become independent of such demands as it is generally small contributions that are collected from donors, often supporters. According to one of the many explanations on the web, crowdfunding is a “method of raising capital through the collective effort of a large number of people, typically via the Internet. It involves small amounts of money contributed by many individuals to fund a project, business or cause.”
In terms of election funding, advocates like the Brennan Centre for Justice believe that crowdfunding of election financing would “reduce the political influence of private donors. Allow less wealthy and well-connected individuals to compete. Expand voter engagement”. According to the WWW, a powerful example of crowdfunding election campaigns was Bernie Sanders’ campaign for the 2020 US Presidential elections. “Sanders went all out on YouTube, rallies, events, emails and text messaging campaigns asking for small donations from his supporters. His viral memes also contributed to the massive US$5.9 million funds raised in 24 hours,” according to one source.
Well it was time to turn the page to how Sri Lankan politicians funded their recent election campaigns. The 2024 Campaign Finance Meter (Chanda Salli Metera) website (https://chandasallimeetare.lk/home) was used as a tool for the first time in the Presidential election, tracking the expenditures of candidates and providing detailed data to enhance the overall transparency in campaign financing, according to a description by the website. Election observers at the Presidential poll in September 2024 made an assessment of the amount spent by candidates at the election which was covered by this platform.
While the election was dominated by incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and NPP’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake, election observers estimated that the five top candidates including Namal, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and newcomer to politics Dilith Jayaweera spent a low of Rs. 12 million to a high of nearly Rs. 300 million on mainstream media, social media, public campaigns, public events, press conferences and launch ceremonies and campaign offices.
Phew..…this was too much information to absorb! I then walked into the kitchen for a second mug of tea and possibly a ‘maalu paan’. While the tea had been brewed, to my disappointment there was no ‘maalu paan’. Not my day and probably because ‘that fellow’ Aldoris, the choon-paan karaya, didn’t come down the lane.
Looking out of the window I saw the ‘trio’ at play……..in a vibrant conversation! Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear any of the conversation as they were speaking in soft tones for some reason or other. Unfortunate….…as I couldn’t get some vibes for my column from their conversation.
According to Sri Lanka’s election laws, a businessman, individual or party leader can financially support a political campaign except a foreign entity and an entity where the government owns more than 50 per cent of the shares. According to the Campaign Finance Law, every candidate should disclose the donor or the source of funds 21 days after the election.
Well it was time to turn the page and end this column. So what is my wish-list today? That maybe tech-savvy politicians contesting the next poll (possibly Provincial Councils) would use crowdfunding for their campaigns which allows them to be independent and not under obligation to anyone, except the public!
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