Online political and electoral campaigns are becoming increasingly popular in Moldova, in terms of both actors involved and costs. Promo-LEX is monitoring how these campaigns are conducted, using periodic META and Google reports on political advertising. However, the instruments do not provide a complete picture of expenses, Mariana Focșa, a financial analyst for Promo-LEX, said during a thematic regional conference.
In particular, Promo-LEX found that a significant part of expenses on online electoral campaigns goes unreported by parties and competitors. For example, in the 2020 presidential election, much of which took place online, almost a third of the total unreported expenses were for online advertising, said Mariana Focșa, estimating the figure to at least 2 million lei.
Another persistent issue found by Promo-LEX is the involvement of third parties in political and electoral financing. Focșa says that it is often complicated to find out who these third parties are: they may be foreign agents or entities not authorized to make such payments. “Online platforms have become a very effective tool for circumventing the legal framework on electoral campaigns and political funds”, the expert noted. “The difficulties we encounter in the monitoring process are the lack of access to information on the spending on sponsored political advertising on Google or Facebook and on the actors who carry it out, i.e. the final payers.”
Focșa says clear and detailed regulations need to be be adopted, including the explicit requirement for parties and competitors to publish the information on online political advertising, its costs and who are those who carry it out. Political and electoral funding by third parties, a very widespread phenomenon, especially on online platforms, should be regulated as well. At the same time, it is necessary to establish proportionate and dissuasive sanctions for those who violate the rules.
The event brought together parties interested in political and electoral financing from the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Lithuania and other countries.
