Lebanese elections use the “block vote” for multi-candidate lists with a confessional requirement. That is, the list in each multi-member electoral district that obtains the most votes wins ALL of the seats in the district, which makes for high stakes in each district. The confessional requirement is that for a a given district, each multi-candidate [...]

For a couple of weeks there has been speculation that the presidential and mayoral campaigns of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) candidates in Panama received money–up to US$6 million–from David Murcia Guzman, who was last year caught in Panama after his pyramid scheme in Colombia was exposed. Today, the incumbent PRD’s presidential candidate–Balbina Herrera–claimed that she took [...]

President Correa’s election campaign was fined by the Consejo Nacional Electoral for a broadcast on government TV which featured a cover of the Beatles’ Hey Jude and displayed a Correa campaign poster int he background. Latinnews.com ($) writes:
Correa claimed that the campaign was being fined for “three seconds of a broadcast” in which a singer had [...]

Ecuador has elections coming up, in April. The official campaign period begins in 3 weeks. Candidates are collecting money through the internet and through public events like bingos and raffles. Opponents to President Correa, who is running again, are worried that he will have too much of an advantage by way of the state. But [...]

The Dealbook blog at the NYTimes has this report based on a release by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Echoing the point made in the post, I would say to its commenters that the data cannot be taken as evidence that contributions buys votes in Congress since FIRE industries are more likely to support those that are [...]

It has been frequently remarked that Brazilian legislative elections are expensive, This week, the Economist says that what is true for federal seats is also true for vereador elections: elections for local municipal councils are also expensive, and it would seem in part for the same reasons. Here’s a good chunk of their article, with emphasis added for [...]

The Herald has a series of articles on the undeclared donations scandal in New Zealand, which has tarnished the government right before November (or earlier) elections. Here’s the source of the controversy:
New Zealand First is now facing three separate inquiries into donations it received since 2005 and the Electoral Commission has given it until the [...]

From the BBC:
Political parties received £10.7m in donations between April and June – up from £8.1m during the previous three months, figures show.
…The commission’s chief executive, Peter Wardle, said: “Having previously called on parties to address the issue of late reporting of individual donations, we are pleased to see this being addressed and expect to [...]

A series of scandals involving pharmaceutical companies — each pointing in the direction that they are involving in the manufacture and/or trafficking of illicit drugs, and the most dramatic involving the assassination of several businessmen – might be worrisome for President Kirchner (the new one) given that her campaign finance disclosures (and those of her husband) show contributions from [...]

The BBC reports:
Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander has resigned “with deep regret” after breaking rules on declaring donations.
It came as she faced a one-day ban from Holyrood after failing to register donations to her leadership campaign.
It seems she failed to declare about £10,000:
She later updated her register with details of 10 donors, who each gave [...]

Pinto-Duschinsky’s report done for Policy Exchange makes several headlines, including: Public subsidies to MPs ‘rising’, Low-level party funding ‘a myth’ and Parties ’spend less fighting elections than 40 years ago’.

The Globe and Mail reports:
TORONTO — Ontario’s two opposition parties went heavily into debt during last fall’s election campaign in an unsuccessful attempt to oust the governing Liberals, documents show.
The Progressive Conservative Party spent nearly twice as much as it raised, leaving it with a deficit of $2.9-million, according to election finance records released yesterday.
All [...]

A ”puntero” folding ballots and collecting money. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-jPHuYlyls 

The NYTimes reports today:  
Taking advantage of his financial edge, Senator Barack Obama is buying large amounts of advertising and building extensive get-out-the-vote operations in an effort to end Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s candidacy with twin defeats Tuesday in Ohio and Texas.  
The intensity of Mr. Obama’s drive is especially apparent on television, where he has [...]

Clarín (spanish) writes that the cross-province fragmentation of parties – which serve as “collectors” and resource supporters for the national candidates – mask the expenditures spent by each coalition. It also recognizes the huge disparity in expenditures for November’s election between the government and opposition coalitions ($17M for Cristina Fernandez’s Frente para Victoria versus $5.7M for Elisa Carrió’s Coalición [...]

Yesterday, the BBC reported:
Tory leader David Cameron and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg are among 14 MPs facing a reprimand for declaring donations too late.
The Electoral Commission notes a £7,285 helicopter flight donated to Mr Cameron in 2005 and six donations worth £14,490 to Mr Clegg, dating back to 2006.
MPs have to register donations over £1,000 [...]

Tranparency International in Paraguay criticized the presidential candidates, Latinnews.com reports: “On 19 February a local NGO said that so far only presidential front-runner Fernando Lugo had agreed to publish his campaign accounts.”

The leftwing coalition FMLN in El Salvador asked the (rightwing) president Antonio Saca to support its proposal for campaign finance reforms a few days after the US accused the FMLN of receiving Venezuelan campaign finance in anticipation of next year’s presidential and congressional elections. AFP’s report (spanish) has no information about any details in the proposal.  

In “Stealthy Groups Shake Up Races“, The Wall Street Journal writes about the various outside organizations that are spending lots of money this election outside of candidates and their campaigns:

Since the 2002 campaign-finance reforms, people who want to influence elections have looked for new ways. Most of their early organizations, like the Swift Boat group, [...]

From Vermont, another take: “Campaign finance reform bill moving quickly through Legislature”
From Louisianna, an opinion: ”Jindal Ethics Flap Demands Louisiana Campaign Finance Reform”
From Minnesota, an explanation: ”The state reimburses some political donations.” Here, it is explained that citizens can get reimbursements for contributions made to candidates and parties (including the DFL – the Democratic-Farmer-Labour party).
The money comes [...]