Political parties did not make progress in increasing financial transparency, CREDO

No progress was made by the political parties in improving financial transparency between the November 2010 parliamentary elections and the June 5 local elections, the Resource Center for Human Rights (CREDO) ascertained. In a report made public on June 3, the Center says considerable amounts spent remained undeclared, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to CREDO, the comparative analysts of the four parliamentary parties revealed that the incomes declared in the current elections are lower than those declared in the November 2010 legislative elections. At the same time, the total number of donors in the local elections increased by 20%. The numbers of legal entities that donated money is insignificant – three. The expenditure on advertisements (TV, radio, billboards) represents 89% of all the declared expenses, as against 75% in the parliamentary elections. The other 11% include expenses on electoral materials and partially cultural activities. The CREDO experts established that the parties do not report the costs of maintaining the central and regional staffs, making trips, paying the campaign consultants, carrying out researches and internal surveys, designing posters, and giving presents to the voters. The Center says that the system of monitoring the undeclared expenses must be built up, while the parties should be liable to penalties if they do not declare costs. According to the data provided by the election runners, over 11 million lei is the largest amount spent in the election campaign. The lowest sum spent by a contender is 5,166 lei. A runner reported zero revenues and expenses.