In Moldova, the ceilings on private donations made by private individuals and legal entities to political parties, including for financing election campaigns, are too high if taking into account the context in the country and the revenues of the population. The opinions were formulated in a national conference organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for Romania and Moldova, IDEA International and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Moldova, IPN reports.
Igor Botan, executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT), said that as Americans say “money is the mother’s milk of politics”. That’s why there should be clear regulations that would ensure transparency in the party funding process so that the parties do not become dependent on sacks of money. In Moldova, the parties have several sources of income, including the membership dues, donations, subsidies from the state budget and editorial activities. There are also particular restrictions, for example foreigners cannot make donations to parties. The political parties must provide the Central Election Commission with reports on incomes, donations, identity of donors etc. The problem of transparency in party funding is now huge and public funds should not be given to parties that are not trusted by society.
Christoph Speckbacher, division head at the GRECO Secretariat, said the Republic of Moldova has a legal framework that can ensure transparency in political party and campaign funding. The independence of public institutions with supervision duties should be ensured so that these show their efficiency. “The academic sector, the media and civil society should be mobilized to a greater extent in this filed,” stated Christoph Speckbacher.
OSCE/ODIHR Democratic Governance Officer Jacopo Leone noted that the approach to politics is similar to the approach to business. There are powerful, rich oligarchs who found parties in order to gain access to public resources, try to manipulate the elections and then enrich themselves with state funds. It is a vicious circle and the creation of a robust legislation in this regard is one of the instruments of fighting this phenomenon, which has been developed during the past few years. It is about a set of measures that need to be adopted to ensure transparency and disclosure of the origin of financing sources. Ceilings should be also placed on donations and spending. In the case of Moldova, the ceilings on donations are too high and should be decreased.
Jacopo Leone also said that the penalties should also be efficient so that the parties do not break the rules. “The situation in the Republic of Moldova is rather problematic when it is about penalties. I think they are too lenient and we said that the regime of punishing the violations of rules by political parties should be strengthened,” stated the official. He added that the team of the Central Election Commission that supervises the obeying of rules should be extended and well trained and both the public inspection institutions and representatives of civil society and the media should be independent and protected.
Lina Petroniene, Head of the Division for Political Party and Campaign Financing Control of the Central Election Commission of Lithuania, said the parties play an important role in the political representation in democratic systems and a decision is needed here: if we want to have correct representation, the elections should be fair and should take place in conditions of equality for all the political parties.
The national conference was staged within the Partnership for Good Governance Program that is co-financed by the European Union and the Council of Europe, with the participation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Romania and Moldova, IDEA International and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Moldova.
