have noted that democracy cannot be achieved without inculcating in the populace democratic values, through the institutionalisation and internalisation of democratic values in the larger society and the empowerment of the ordinary citizen. We have also noted that public financing of political parties without inter-party and intra-party democratic practice cannot bring about democratic governance at the national level. It is therefore proposed that provision for public funding of political parties must first and foremost be made in the Constitution, clearly stating that the purpose of such funding is to promote greater multi-party democracy and political pluralism. The Constitution must also state that political parties that wish to benefit from public funding must, as a prerequisite, conform to prescribed minimum standards for the promotion of democratic principles and standards within the parties. Pursuant to this, the Political Parties (Finance) Act must make provision for the prescription of minimum standards for democracy which must be adhered to by political parties, by an independent electoral commission after consultation with political parties and other stakeholders. II. A matter that requires revisiting is whether political parties should be funded only for the running of election campaigns and not also for running normal party business or routine party operations76. We have noted above that some countries provide State funding only for running election while other countries, like Zimbabwe, extend the funding to include normal party activities. The current beneficiaries, ZANU (PF) and the MDC, are likely to prefer the status quo. However, this should not preclude a reconsideration of the issue. It should be remembered that public funding of political parties was unilaterally introduced by ZANU (PF) in its current form for selfish reasons, although the MDC is now also a beneficiary. It is therefore desirable that stakeholders should be consulted on the issue. As a way forward to facilitate such consultations, it is proposed as follows: • Presidential candidates who garner at least five per cent of the total vote in a Presidential election must be awarded public funding, the amount of which shall be based on the number of votes gained as a percentage of an amount that is approved by Parliament upon recommendation by an independent electoral commission; • Each political party contesting a general election shall be entitled to public funding for election campaigning based on the 76 The suggestion by Masunungure that public funding of political parties should be only for electoral purposes and that political parties must be able to fund their own operations outside the electoral arena must be taken seriously. See Masunungure, op cit, p.5 and p.28 30