Cost of Politics Reports

The Zambia Cost of Politics Survey is an attempt to collect systematic data on issues pertaining to campaign finance in the Zambian 2021 parliamentary election. Observers of Zambian politics have long voiced concerns about the extent to which parliamentary elections are characterised by lavish spending and high levels of clientelism.

Recent studies on the cost of politics in Africa show that running for office is becoming increasingly expensive and that rising costs in competitive elections are a challenge to participatory electoral democracy. This study of the cost of politics in Kenya analyses the expenditure of individuals who
contested for political office at Senate, National Assembly and County Assembly level in Kenya in 2017.

This study applied a conceptual framework that uses a comparative and gendered approach to estimate the cost of politics, using a set of pre-identified variables regularly incurred by both candidates seeking political office and elected representatives while in office.

Money politics has increasingly become ‘a dominant feature of elections in Mauritius’, with conglomerates, financial actors and potential benefactors actively involved in continuing ‘to finance the different parties and buy election results’

Members of Parliament in Kenya are amongst the highest paid in the world relative to the size of the economy. Parliamentary seats are among the most sought-after positions in society, bringing the holder wealth and social standing.

High costs of politics limits political representation, curtails competition, and spurs corruption. Although the importance of money in politics is well known among Malawian politicians, stakeholders,
and political analysts this study is the first attempt to quantify and specify the costs of politics in Malawi.

Politics in Uganda, especially at the higher end of the political system, has in recent years become increasingly the preserve of a small self-selecting elite, those who can raise the vast amounts of money needed to conduct successful campaigns for election to public office.