International comparison of rules governing money in politics and more
" 68 per cent (116 countries) have provisions for direct public funding to political parties, although the figure varies from 27 per cent of countries in Oceania to 86 per cent of European countries. • 69 per cent of all countries provide political parties with free or subsidised media access, with Africa standing out as the continent with the largest focus on such assistance. • Only 29 percent (49 countries) limit the amount of money that political parties are allowed to spend, although 44 per cent apply such limits to electoral candidates, p10. ---------- "Germany explicitly bans donations made in expectation of political or financial advantage." 15 --- "The database shows that 61 per cent of the countries that provide free or subsidised media access allocate this access equally, with 24 per cent allocating it fully proportionally and the rest using a mix. In terms of the criteria used for proportional allocation, 16 countries use each party’s share of seats, while a further 14 use the number of candidates presented by each party. Eight countries base allocation on the votes won by each party in the preceding election. These criteria are not mutually exclusive as some countries use different criteria for different parts of the media access provided. " p. 28
Source: Magnus Ohman, "Political Finance Regulations Around the World," (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance: Sweden, 2012) 10. http://www.idea.int/publications/political-finance-regulations/loader.cf... [verified 4/15/14]