Political Parties

Political parties in Vanuatu currently operate without direction state support, and also without direct state regulation. Whilst lack of regulation result in very high scores in respect of independence it also undermines governance, as political parties are able to operate without any transparency or accountability in all spheres of their operation. For instance political parties are not required to disclose income or expenditure, either during or between election periods. Parties tend not to publish policies as a matter of course outside of election years. Nor are party Constitutions readily available. This uncontrolled political party environment is thought to contribute to Vanuatu’s increasingly fragmented political party environment. It is also thought to allow corrupt practices to flourish undetected, for instance through payments to political parties in order to influence them. There are currently activities by both the Government and the Opposition to develop reforms in relation to political integrity. Many of these reform proposals relate to improving governance of political parties. The recommendations in this paper are, in part, drawn from proposals that have arisen in the course of high-level political discussions in this area