Plahotniuc proposes bill on financing political parties

Democratic Party vice president Vlad Plahotniuc has proposed a new bill on the funding of political parties and election campaigns, Info-Prim Neo reports. “I am proposing Parliament to amend the legislation so as to allow each person to know everything about the funding of political parties, and if people want to support them, they should be able to do that in a simple and correct manner”, said Vlad Plahotniuc. According to him, the bill is part of a broader reform that aims to consolidate democracy in Moldova and restore the society's confidence in the political system. “In general, we will offer the citizen the real possibility to directly elect a parliamentarian in his precinct, and also enable him to be wholly informed about the financing of political parties and election campaigns. This is the only way to ensure that violations are revealed, harshly punished and eliminated”, said Vlad Plahotniuc. Among the proposals are to limit the circle of persons that can make donations to parties and capping those donations; information on donors must be published by every party; parties will be given the option to take or refuse state subsidies; state subsidies will be also available to political parties outside of Parliament; upper limits will be set for the campaign expenses of all candidates so as to ensure equal opportunities in electoral competition. Further, according to European standards, political parties will be required to report their financial information annually and ahead of each election campaign. During election campaigns, their financial reports will become more ample and will be subject to auditing by the Central Election Commission and the Court of Accounts. The bill is an intention to adapt a set of Council of Europe's resolutions and recommendations to Moldovan realities, the author said.