BRASILIA
(Reuters) - Brazil’s scandal-plagued political class voted on Wednesday
to set up a 1.7 billion reais (£409.6 million) fund with taxpayer money
to finance election campaigns, making up for a dearth of private
funding ahead of next year’s general election.
A
ban on corporate donations coupled with the drying up of
under-the-table contributions and kickbacks in the wake of the country’s
biggest corruption scandal have left lawmakers struggling to raise
campaign funding.
The lower house of Congress
approved a bill that had passed the Senate and will take funds from pork
barrel appropriations and government payments to buy TV and radio time
for parties.
The fund was meant to be part of improvements to
Brazil’s discredited political system to reduce a proliferation of
parties that has made it hard to govern Latin America’s largest nation
without unwieldy coalitions based on self-interest.
The
Senate unanimously approved on Tuesday a constitutional amendment that
limits coalitions to parties with similar platforms, but it will go into
effect in the 2012 elections.
More than 100
lawmakers are targeted by the Car Wash corruption investigation that
uncovered a network of bribes from private companies seeking to win
contracts or influence policies, and even implicated President Michel
Temer and several of his cabinet ministers.
Critics
of the campaign fund said it was aimed at providing funding for
lawmakers seeking re-election to shield themselves from prosecution for
corruption.
“It is shameful that this fund will
be used by unethical politicians who should not be sitting here in
Congress,” said Julio Delgado, leader of the Brazilian Socialist Party
(PSB). “Not a single lawmaker under investigation has opposed it.”
Backers
of the use of public money for campaigns argued that organised crime
would step in to finance politicians if funding was lacking.
The
sprawling Car Wash graft investigation that convicted dozens of
executives from Brazil’s main contractor companies has shut down the
flow of undeclared payments to politicians.
“What most worries
them is where they will get money for their campaigns now that companies
cannot donate and are not willing to engage in illegal contributions,”
said Lucas de Aragão, partner at political risk consultancy Arko Advice.
On the positive side, he said, Congress set a threshold for parties to be able to access public funding and free TV time based on the votes they win, which will help reduce the number of parties, today totalling 35.
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