“Partners for Transparency” PFT concluded the training workshop for members of the committees to evaluate electoral financing and spending in the governorates covered by the initiative, on Monday, 28 September 2015.

This came within the framework of its implementation of the initiative to monitor electoral financing and spending, “Our Voices Against Your Money”.

“15” members of the committees formed by Partners for Transparency in PFT in 5 governorates participated in the workshop to take over the task of collecting and analyzing information related to electoral financing and spending for the candidates in the targeted constituencies, including monitoring and documenting the violations related to this. Both the human rights activist and the lawyer attended the workshop. Ms. Amima Al-Sharif, President of the Promising Voices Foundation, and Dr. Walaa Jad Al-Karim, Director of Partners for Transparency.

The workshop aimed at providing participants with knowledge and skills related to monitoring the electoral financing and spending of candidates based on the controls established in the Law on Exercising Political Rights and related legislation. The workshop also included an explanation of the tools that will be used by committee members to assess the electoral funding and spending for each candidate separately, through a form Developed specifically for this purpose, so that the process of arranging and classifying information and drawing conclusions that are close to accuracy goes through.

Partners for Transparency had announced its implementation of an initiative that is the first of its kind to monitor electoral financing and spending, defining its main purpose as providing tools and coming up with practical recommendations that benefit civil society organizations and bodies supervising electoral processes to cover the severe deficiency in this important aspect of verifying integrity The electoral process and equal opportunities for the candidates and parties involved in it. The initiative is implemented in five governorates at the rate of one district in each governorate, which are: Cairo, Port Said, Alexandria, Dakahlia, and Fayoum.

Starting today, September 29, 2015, the monitoring team will start monitoring the electoral financing and spending of the candidates in the constituencies of the first stage of the electoral process until the end of the electoral campaign period, and then they will continue working during the prescribed period for the legal publicity in the run-off round. The Foundation issues two initial reports on the results of each phase's follow-up, then a final report that includes an evaluation of the results of the process as a whole, and the proposed tools and recommendations.

It is worth noting that Partners for Transparency "PFT" is a non-governmental organization, declared in accordance with the provisions of Egyptian law under the number "9729" in December 2014, that takes into account independence and neutrality "politically" and "ideologically", and works within the framework of helping society to establish and implement the values and practices of integrity, Transparency and accountability, in order to achieve comprehensive "human" development, respect for human rights, and the building of a system of good governance.