The General Election Commission (GEC) of Mongolia, in collaboration with the Open Government Partnership (OGP), the Open Society Forum, Transparency International, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, organized a seminar on the “Development of an Online Platform/Digital System to Collect and Publish Financial Reports by Political Parties.”
Mongolia is the first Asian country to join the Political Party Financing Transparency Challenge, launched by the OGP. The GEC emphasized the importance of international best practices and expert assessments in ensuring the transparency of political parties, developing digital systems, and bringing them under public control. The General Election Commission is working in all areas with state and international organizations and political parties to ensure the implementation of the Law on Political Parties and enhance transparency and accountability in political party financing.
The seminar lasted for two days, during which participants learned from international experiences, including those of Latvia, Armenia, and the UK, on political party finance reporting and digital solutions. The new system will allow the public to monitor how the funding provided by the government is being used. The information in the reporting system will be open to the public, allowing donors to obtain and analyze information and monitor their donations.
The seminar participants, consisting of political parties, state monitoring organizations, and civil society organizations, all expressed the need to view donor information by company, the amount of donation made to each party, the ownership of the information, and to classify information in various categories. They also identified the need to create an opportunity to view information on all processes such as declaring, receiving, and spending state funds, party assets, and companies affiliated with donors in a categorized manner.
In conclusion, the development of this online platform/digital system is a significant step towards enhancing transparency and accountability in political party financing in Mongolia. By adopting international best practices and leveraging digital solutions, Mongolia aims to ensure that political parties operate under public scrutiny, thereby fostering trust and integrity in the political process.