As the November 30 election approaches, Honduras faces a familiar problem: transparency in campaign finance exists on paper only. By the end of October 2025, only 40 percent of the 2,317 candidates completed accreditation with the Financing, Transparency, and Monitoring Unit (UFTF), which verifies the origin and use of campaign funds.
The law mandates that candidates must disclose who funds them and how that money is spent on messaging and campaign activities across the country. However, the practice remains elusive. Complicated regulations make accountability unnecessarily difficult, and the political class benefits from keeping it that way.
The UFTF lacksthe staff, budget, and tools to perform proper monitoring over thousands of candidates. In this context, many candidates choose to ignore the rules—with little fear of repercussions—and just focus on campaigning. That practice leaves the door wide open for vote buying, electoral manipulation, and illicit financing.
An Open Secret
In the 2021 election, civil-society organizations documented parties and candidates purchasing votes in both the primaries and the general election. To prevent similar practices in this electoral cycle, media campaigns ahead of the 2025 primaries urged citizens to vote on account of personal convictions and reminded them that buying and selling votes is a crime.
In March, the Impunity Observer reported how the Libre, Liberal, and National parties use taxpayer-funded campaign subsidies for irregular cash operations. While small gifts at rallies are common, candidates also offer cash or supermarket vouchers to citizens.
Policy analyst César Indiano explains: “citizens, especially lower-income voters, see politics like a lottery and are willing to accept money through these corrupt deals.” They are worried about putting food on the table each day, not about the politicians’ empty pledges.
Monitoring with Hands Tied
Honduras already relies on the Law of Electoral Financing, Transparency, and Oversight and the body to enforce it—the UFTF. However, repeat noncompliance and vote manipulation show that the status quo is not working.
In recent elections, for instance, the UFTF extended reporting deadlines because parties and candidates failed to file on time. Such extensions signal fragility and convey that consequences are unlikely. In the same vein, despite tighter formal measures—such as the requirement to use a dedicated bank account and file standardized financial reports—less than 25 percent of candidates in the 2025 primaries opened the mandated account by election day.
Currently, tracking sanctioned candidates or verifying reported expenses is complex and depends on candidates’ timely reporting. However, there is no political will to improve the process. How would candidates continue buying votes and co-opting electoral officials?
Less Is More
When enforcement is sporadic audits and paperwork checks, sophisticated actors can adapt faster than the referee. Weak oversight invites not only petty corruption but also organized criminal infiltration. Rooting out inefficiency and enforcing oversight is crucial to guaranteeing free and fair elections and safeguarding the country’s development from criminal groups that weaken institutions to plunder nations.
The remedy is not more rules but simpler, real-time accountability with immediate consequences. The UFTF can start with two swift changes: (1) opening the bank account at candidate registration, enabling transaction traceability; and (2) implementing prompt sanctions, such as loss of ballot access and suspension of public financing for missed filings or off-ledger spending. Reforming the law to cut red tape and set an exclusive budget for the UFTF would be proper mid-term reforms. Adopting real-time tracking and automation for early warning signals would also reduce the need for more staff. The status quo persists because it pays. Parties and candidates enjoy flexibility when enforcement agencies run insufficient. Democracy cannot rest on sermons that encourage voters to attend the election and vote responsibly, while turning a blind eye to the money that buys their choices. Make accountability certain or accept that illicit financing and vote bribery will remain the shortest path to victory in Honduran politics.
This article appeared in Diario El País.
