Granted, the Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) has touched on other related issues such as vote buying and corruption. However, the tendency has been to focus on piecemeal solutions such as the future of the Party List system, the size of an electoral constituency, where to tally votes, how to empower the Election Commission and how to improve the checks and balance mechanism, etc. Although these are important issues, this approach tends to overlook the bigger picture.

The CDA must realise that practices such as vote buying are symptoms of a much bigger problem. Even vote buying itself has become much more sophisticated than a one-time payment in exchange for votes to win office and the opportunity for corruption. The issue that has to be tackled is the role of money in politics, an issue with which even mature democracies often struggle to get to grips.

In order to effectively tackle this problem, we must begin with the reality:

1. Expenses - Political parties and politicians must shoulder sizeable expenses, which can be categorised as follows:

1.1. Expenses directly associated with political activities that are under the legal threshold. These include expenses incurred during campaigns such as posters, vehicles, rallies, as well as radio and television advertisements. The total cost of the above, according to the law (but unrealistically), would amount to Bt700 million (400 constituencies times Bt1.5 million, plus Bt100 million allocated for Party List candidates) for each party. These do not include expenses incurred during non-campaign periods for meetings, seminars, political rallies and office expenses for both headquarters and branches.

1.2. Expenses indirectly associated with political activities that are necessary to build political bases and networks. These include social taxes (such as gifts to constituents at weddings and funerals), which normally far exceed the official salary of an MP. This means that many politicians have to resort to corruption at the local level or seek financial support from "faction leaders", which in turn leads to corruption at the national level. Such expenses are not seen as a means of vote buying. Yet the sheer amount of money involved can far exceed expenses during the campaign, with perhaps even more political impact.

1.3. Expenses associated with illegal political activities (vote buying). Such expenses have been widely discussed. Previous research suggests the turnover of hard cash for vote buying activities during campaign periods is simply staggering.

In the past, efforts to deal with the problem have focused solely on point 1.3. While this is important, failing to address the other points cannot possibly ensure clean politics. Moreover, previous attempts to set a ceiling on spending upon politicians have been very unrealistic, thereby leading to the growth of underground money.

2. Income. Under existing political regulations, there are only two possible sources of revenue:

2.1. The Fund for the Development of Political Parties. This is a government-sponsored fund allocated to political parties. Funding allocation is determined upon a party's number of votes received, number of members of parliament, number of branch offices as well as the total number of registered members. Despite its noble intent, the system is still flawed for the following reasons:

- The funds allocated fall far short of what is needed to cover "legal" political activity expenses as described in 1.1.

- The fund has numerous limitations on how it can be used. For instance, the Electoral Commission has decided the fund cannot be used to finance a party's branch office expenses. - The fund is open to many abuses; individuals have been known to set up political parties and branches, as well as manipulate their membership records in order to receive endowments from the fund. This problem has worsened considerably, to the extent that millions of Thais are now members of more than one political party. Last year alone, one party with no noticeable electoral support or activities claimed to have increased its membership by six million!

2.2. Donations. Although currently regulated by law, there are a number of problems that have arisen, as follows:

 - There is no ceiling on how much a person, a family or a company can donate to a political party. As a result, big financiers become the true owners of the party. Their interests then dominate those of party members.

 - All donors are required by law to disclose their identities. Many citizens wishing to give small donations refrain from doing so for fear of intimidation by political competitors in government.

3. In order to effectively and systematically deal with money politics, one must include the following set of rules and regulations in the country's future legislation:

3.1 Formalise a system of financial accountability by making it mandatory for all politicians and political parties to maintain a "political account" and disclose an "income/revenue record" for all political activities. Any attempt to exclude political income/expense from this record must be recognised as a criminal offence.

3.2 Reduce the overhead cost of operations for politicians and political parties by using government resources to support party activities such as media and postal services, or by imposing strict yet reasonable guidelines concerning the production and distribution of printed campaign material (e.g. by regulating the amount of posters a candidate can distribute). More importantly, the government must deem all expenses in category 1.2. as political expenses and they must be declared and regulated. In many countries, such expenses are banned or are only permitted with strict controls under a stringent cap.

3.2 Improve legislation governing political party donations by allowing anonymous small donors and by providing a ceiling on how much a person, a family or a company can donate to a political party. Moreover, the government can facilitate donors by allowing them to earmark their taxes for supporting a party of their choice and by permitting donors to contribute to individual politicians as well as to parties.

3.2 Improve the management of the Development of Political Parties Fund by confronting problems concerning party membership and branches. Moreover, the fund should provide incentives for parties to engage in constructive activities.

Lastly, the Constitution drafters must be realistic about using accurate assumptions and figures to implement the above plans, otherwise Thai politics will once again be forced to operate underground, rendering any new legislation useless.

Abhisit Vejjajiva

Abhisit Vejjajiva is leader of the Democrat Party and the author of "Karn Muang Thai Lang Ratapraharn" ("Thai Politics After the Coup). He can be contacted via his website: www.abhisit.org.