Kenya Caps Political Financing Ahead of Next Year’s Election
Kenya Caps Political Financing Ahead of Next Year’s Election
(Bloomberg) -- Kenya capped election-campaign financing for a presidential candidate in next year’s general election, the country’s first attempt to regulate such spending.
A presidential aspirant will be required to spend not more than 4.4 billion shillings ($40.7 million), the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission said in a statement on its website on Monday. A donation from a single source is limited to 20% of the cap, foreign-government contributions are banned, while political parties will be allowed a budget not exceeding 17.7 billion shillings.
The East African nation is scheduled to hold its general elections on August 9, 2022, with President Uhuru Kenyatta set to exit after serving two five-year terms. Election results in Kenya are usually determined by how the five biggest ethnic groups vote, following costly campaigns -- it is difficult to estimate how much has been spent in past votes in the absence of disclosures.
The campaign-finance rules are meant to ensure equal opportunity to all candidates, and prevent abuse of state resources or the use of “dirty money” to influence balloting, the elections body told lawmakers on Aug. 5, while submitting the regulations for approval.
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