Parties spend about 50m undeclared lei in election campaigns, expert

The political parties in election campaigns spend about 50 million lei coming from officially recorded donations and another approximately 50 million undeclared lei, most of the money being donated by a small number of persons, Sergiu Ostaf, director of the Resource Center for Human Rights (CreDO), said in an interview for Info-Prim Neo, titled “{Financing of all parties depends on several dozens of persons}”. Sergiu Ostaf made reference to the study “Financing of political parties in the November 28, 2010 parliamentary elections”, conducted by CreDO and the Center for Partnership Development. Officially, about 700-800 persons (a declining number) donate over 50 million lei (an increasing figure), which is the official cost of the election campaign of all the political parties taken together. By analyzing the data provided by the CEC and by calculation, we determine that less than 20% of the donors contribute 80% of the given sum. Thus, about 100 persons or up to 15 persons in every party (of the 7-8 parties with important incomes) provide 80% of the financing. In reality, the observed/real costs increase the real cost of the campaign at least twice, from the contributions made by large donors. Consequently, the important backers that donate over 80% of the financing for a party in the elections constitute up to 10 persons per party, Sergiu Ostaf said. He considers that the identity of the donors – private individuals or economic entities – can be established. But it is more important to promote policies aimed at freeing the parties from this financial over-dependence on a limited group of people, within a medium term. This will make the political parties more democratic. The goal can be achieved by: a) decreasing the expenditure cap about 100 times; b) strictly reporting how the money is used ; c) providing subsidies from the state budget (by observing the previous condition), d) identifying every donor, etc. According to Sergiu Ostaf, the donors in Moldova represent 0.046% of the number of voters. In the developed countries, this figure is 5-9%.