Public financing law could help in reducing polarisation - Expert

The introduction of public financing towards political parties may help in reducing polarisation within societies.

Associate Professor in School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham UK, Dr Fernando Casal Bertoa said this can happen due to the appeal factor of a political party among voters.

"Usually political parties that have extreme ideas, they are the ones that depend on funding from oligarchs or businessmen. Therefore, they do not look into common interests of the people.

"However, when you introduce public funding, as most voters tend to be in the middle of political spectrum, you encourage political parties to also come to an ideological medium," he said during a panel interview with Astro AWANI's Consider This on the need for public financing laws and regulations.

He was joined by Senior Manager of Democracy and Governance Unit at The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) Aira Azhari.

"We have seen a slew of cases in court involving politicians from certain political parties being accused of misusing funds that are supposed to be political funds.

"When we don't have a law, there is no definition of what political funds are.

"So, if you are accused of corruption or mismanaging funds, you cannot go out there and say it is a political fund so what I'm doing is fine.

"None of us know where the money come from or the mechanism for it and this is becoming a problem. So I believe that in the public's mind, this is the right time to emphasise why this law is important," said Aira.