Electoral Commission: Body must be given real powers

IRELAND’S long-awaited Electoral Commission is to be established finally in the new year. Let us hope it will prove worth the wait, but, more importantly, let us hope that it has more teeth than its UK equivalent.

The British Electoral Commission describes itself as “the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK.” As the regulator of political party funding in the UK, the commission’s role is to ensure the integrity and transparency of party and election finance.

Yet, as the BBC reported yesterday, it gave nothing more than a slap on the wrist to a pro-Brexit group that donated £435,000 to the DUP during the EU referendum campaign in 2016. The bulk of the money was spent by the DUP on pro-Brexit advertising.

It spent well over £200,000 of the donation on an advertisement in Metro, the UK’s highest-circulation paper, which is distributed free on trains, buses, stations, airports and hospitals across urban areas of England, Wales, and Scotland, but not in Northern Ireland. That clearly suggests that the DUP was seeking to influence the referendum result way beyond its own core area.

The advert included a claim that the EU was expanding further, with Turkey applying for membership. In fact, this claim is no more than disinformation, ‘fake news’ designed to frighten the electorate. Turkey has no hope of becoming a member, because it does not meet the fundamental criterion of being a functioning democracy and its application has been in abeyance since 1987.

A Scottish-based organisation, called the Constitutional Research Council, was judged to be in breach of electoral law by failing to report the donation. The commission’s sanction? A fine of £6,000. The CRC is chaired by Richard Cook, a former vice-chairman of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. The DUP’s biggest-ever donation was kept secret for two years and only came to light as a result of an investigation by the BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight programme.

As revealed in our exclusive report today, the Government is considering a number of options relating to the establishment of a similar electoral commission, including putting it on a statutory basis with full powers, or phasing those powers in over time. A permanent electoral commission has been planned since 2006 to oversee all elections and referendums in the state. It has also been recommended in reports by each of the referendum commissions in recent years.

The Government need look no further than across the Irish Sea to see that the worst form of electoral commission would be toothless and ineffective. It is essential that any such commission be given the strength and financial means to do its job properly.

It is noteworthy that combating ‘fake news’ is central to the Government’s thinking in the formation of an electoral commission. That is a good thing. Cabinet memos reveal that it will also tackle online disinformation. That is also a good — albeit limited — thing. As the DUP’s activities show, disinformation and fake news can come in many forms.