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Availability: Political finance data

The following indicator is under consideration for this pilot edition of the Barometer: To what extent is political finance information available as open data?

Feedback on draft Global Data Barometer Indicators

You are looking at a draft indicator to be included in the expert survey of the Global Data Barometer. Between now and May 10th we are inviting your feedback on this indicator and the elements it contains. You can provide your feedback by (a) completing the feedback form below; or (b) adding in-line annotations.

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You can share your feedback on the Availability: Political finance data indicator here, or make use of Hypothes.is annotations

Show/hide supporting questions

Existence

  • Is this data available online in any form?
    • Data is not available online
      Supporting questions: Are there other offline ways to access this data in the country? (e.g. attending an office to inspect it)
    • Data is available, but not as a result of government action
      Supporting questions: If government is not providing access to data, how is this data available? Please provide a URL for where this data can be found
    • Data is available from government, or because of government actions
      Supporting questions: Please provide a URL for where this data can be found

Elements

Part 1: Data structure and openness.

  • Data is timely and updated. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    When was the most recent update to this dataset?

  • Dataset is available free of charge. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data is openly licensed. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If No: If there are explicit restrictions placed on re-use of the dataset, briefly describe those here.

    If Partially or Yes: If the data is provided with an explicit open license, please provide the name of the license, or a link to it here.

  • Data is available in all the country’s official or national languages. If the country has no official or national languages, data is available in the major languages of the country. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please briefly describe the language coverage available.

  • Data is provided in machine-readable format(s) (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide a URL where this machine-readable data can be found. (Additional URLs can be included in the justification and supporting evidence)

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide a comma separated list of the formats available? (E.g. csv, json)

    If Partially: What prevents you from assessing this data as fully machine-readable?

  • The machine-readable dataset is available as a whole (No, Partially, Yes) Answer no if it's only possible to access individual records; Answer partially if it's possible to export extracts of the data; Answer yes if there are bulk downloads or APIs providing access to the whole dataset without financial, technical or legal barriers.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide a URL where bulk download access is available or described.

    If Partially or Yes: If bulk access is provided through an API, please provide a link to where the API is described.

Part 2: Data fields and quality assessment.

  • Data contains details of income for each party or candidate. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data contains details of donations, public funding, and membership dues for each party or candidate. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data contains details of financial contributions to each party or candidate. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data contains details of assets and liabilities of each party or candidate. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • The data contains details of the spending of each party or candidate. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data contains details of in kind and non-financial support donated to each party or candidate. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data contains details of the timing and amounts of donations linked to donors. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data contains first and last name for each donor. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data contains place of residence for each donor. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data contains occupation of each donor. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data contains information about the employer of each donor. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data includes unique identifiers for each donor. (No, Partially, Yes)

Part 3: Barriers to data availability or quality.

  • This information is missing required data. (There is no evidence of data gaps., There is evidence that a portion of mandated data is missing., There is evidence of widespread omissions in mandated data.) In cases where a separate indicator has asked you to determine data requirements of a relevant governing framework, assess against that. In cases where there is no such related governance indicator, assess based on the parameters laid out in the publication of the information, your local knowledge, and any broader research you may have done for this theme.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If There is evidence that a portion of mandated data is missing. or There is evidence of widespread omissions in mandated data.: Please briefly explain.

  • The availability of this data has been affected by government response to COVID-19. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please briefly describe how COVID-19 affected the availability of this data.

Extent

  • How comprehensive is the data assessed for this question?
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without available data, or with data of a lesser quality.
      Supporting questions: Which locality does this data cover?
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, and is a representative example of the kind of data that can be found for all, or most, localities.
    • The data assessed provides national coverage.

Definitions and Identification

Political finance datasets should provide a comprehensive overview of the financial state of political parties and political campaigns, including their income, assets, and liabilities. Further, whether financial support comes from donations, membership fees, or public funding, datasets should show clearly from whom political parties and political campaigns raise money, how much money, and how that money is spent.

Political finance datasets should be available to members of a public for free, have appropriate language coverage, be accessible, and include both regular updates and updates that are responsive to campaign schedules. If verification is not standard across all data, datasets should show which data have been verified and which have not.

Among other functions, it should be possible to use political finance datasets to verify that parties and campaigns are not receiving financial support from any entities that may be banned under the country's laws (often, for example, this includes foreign entities).

More granular details about donations may be located in a separate donations register.

Because countries have different election schedules and this data is responsive to campaigns, if the country you are assessing has not held within the Barometer's period of assessment, please assess data in conjunction with the most recent major election and note this in the free text justification.

Starting points

  • Search:

    • The site of the country's relevant oversight agencies, such as its elections commission, registrar of political donates, etc.

  • Consult:

    • Investigative journalists who report on political finance or money in politics more broadly, particularly any who appear to be using aggregate political finance data.
    • Officials of civil society organizations that advocate for transparency and accountability regarding money in politics.

What to look for?

To complete the assessment for this question you will need to access and explore the available data. This may involve running queries on datasets to check the variety of fields included.

Look for evidence that can answer the following questions:

  • What financial and non-financial information does the data include? For example, does it include information about financial contributions, income, assets and liabilities, spending, and in kind or non-financial support?
  • What information about donors and donations does the data include? For example, does it include not only donation amounts but identifying details of donors, such as names, residence, occupation, employer?
  • Is there evidence of missing data, assessed first against the related governance framework, if that exists, or in the context of the datasets in front of you?
  • Is there evidence that the availability of this data was affected by COVID-19?

National and sub-national considerations

In some countries, political finance data may be generated and published at the sub-national level, ****carried out by individual states, regions or cities.

Focus on national government first, and then assess whether:

  • National datasets also include data from sub-national or local government units;
  • Equivalent data exists for a selection of sub-national or local government units, but is not nationally aggregated;

To assess countries where administrative data about violence against women is organized sub-nationally, researchers should select the strongest example of sub-national practice, and then indicate whether this is an outlier, or an example of widespread practice.

The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) calls for transparency regarding the role of money in politics.

While donating to a politician or political cause is widely considered a form of political participation, there is also widespread concern about the effects of money in politics—with particular questions regarding who donates to parties and campaigns, how much, and how that affects political outcomes.

Transparent campaign and party financing is thus critical for understanding whose interests shape parties, ballot initiatives, and the decisions of specific public officials.