To amend the Political Party Funding Act, 2018, so as to provide for the regulation of the private and public funding of independent candidates and independent representatives and matters incidental thereto; to amend the title, long title and preamble; to insert and substitute definitions; to amend the names of the Funds; to preclude the Electoral Commission from accepting donations to the Multi-Party and Independents Democracy Fund which it has reason to believe is the proceeds of crime; to empower the Commission to invest money in the Funds in any bank registered in terms of the Banks Act, 1990; to proscribe the attachment of money in the Funds by certain persons; to provide for the right of political parties, independent candidates and independent representatives to refuse donations; to provide for prohibition on donations to a member of a political party; to amend the provisions relating to the accounting obligations of represented and unrepresented political parties; to provide for independent representatives and independent candidates to account for income; to provide for the offence of making a donation to a political party, a member of a political party, an independent candidate or an independent representative in the expectation that the party, member, candidate or representative will influence the award of benefits or relaxation of conditions; to provide for the offence of making a donation to a member of a political party to circumvent the provisions of Chapter 3; to provide for offences by a member of a political party of accepting a donation to circumvent the provisions of Chapter 3 or appropriating the donation for themselves; to amend the powers of the President to make regulations on certain matters; to amend Schedule 2 in respect of the formula for the allocation of money in the Funds on a proportional and equitable basis, in respect of the upper limit of donations and the disclosure limit for donations; and to amend the Electoral Act, 1998, the Electoral Commission Act, 1996, the Electronic Communications Act, 2005, and the Financial Management of Parlia- ment and Provincial Legislatures Act, 2009, so as to make consequential amendments resulting from the introduction of independent candidates to contest elections of the National Assembly and provincial legislatures.

Electoral Matters Amendment Bill