Political transparency is a quality of public activity that consists of the openness of the public sector to the dissemination of information about its management. One of the characteristics of a democratic State is the obligation of all public powers (the Head of State, the Government, Parliament, the judicial system and administrations, companies and public foundations) to account to citizens for all their actions, especially the origin and destination of public resources, and thus prevent, detect and punish cases of incompetence and political corruption.[1][2]​.

In a figurative sense, the term "transparency"[3]​ is used to describe a trend towards accessibility to all information linked to public management and that concerns and interests the entire public opinion, a sector of it or even a single individual. In other words, it is the concern to explain, to make people understand, to recognize errors or malpractice, to open files and documents, to faithfully describe facts and circumstances.[4][5]​.

The primary objective of political transparency is to establish and maintain a relationship of trust between citizens and public powers. Global standards of good governance consider transparency essential for social and economic progress.[6]​.

Public transparency is opposed to public opacity and financial illusion, and is an antidote to the phenomenon of political corruption.[7]​.

In political or economic matters, transparency is the deep and detailed knowledge of the decisions and resolutions and regulations taken by the administrations and by the powers of the State, as well as their motivations and justifications, and includes the way in which the data has been collected and the way of later using them, in addition to providing information on the real costs of the projects and activities, on the management of funds, and also on the dangers and implications that may arise, on security aspects, on the established access mechanisms. to information, and above all other relevant aspects.

Within the framework of public administration, transparency is a mechanism that prevents acts of corruption and allows citizens to know the internal functioning of institutions and how the funds they receive are managed.[8]​.

Transparency today is one of the main demands of citizens in relation to political leaders, economic actors and managers, and administrative leaders and officials. The great challenge for all this is to find a balance between what should be reported, what can be reported and that is not worth doing because it is not relevant, and what should not be reported for reasons inherent to the procedures, or even for possible reasons of general interest.[9]​.