In 2009, 34 political parties have registered with the Central Election Commission as electoral subjects. There are only 11 parliamentary parties out of the total number of registered ones. The electoral subjects have officially reported a total of 336 040 695 (three hundred thirty-six million forty thousand six hundred ninety-five) Leks in collected funds. This amount represents the collected funds for supporting the electoral campaign’s costs and expenses.
These funds have been secured through: public funding (through the state budget); donations (private contributions); electoral subjects’ own funds; and other ways sanctioned by the Electoral Code.
Political Subjects’ funds by type – 2009 Electoral Campaign
Source: The Auditing Reports, Political parties, 2009 campaign
Elaboration and Analysis: ODA
Source: The Auditing Reports, Political parties, 2009 campaign
Public funds. A considerable part of the political parties’ funds is made of the money allocated to them from the state budget. These public funds are allocated to political parties to cover for the campaign’s expenses. The funds’ allocation rules are set forth in Article 87 of the Electoral Code. In line with the subjects’ reporting, they have benefited from the state budget a total of 64,077,264 (sixty-four million seventy-seven thousand two hundred sixty-four) Leks. The above sum comprises 19.07% of the total campaign funds.
Electoral donations (private contributions). Donations are an interesting phenomenon of the electoral campaigns. Although, not as transparent and visible for the public, the private contributions to the electoral campaign are a source of considerable revenues for political parties and candidates. So, the political parties’ revenues from non-public (private) funds in the 2009 electoral campaign are equal to 109,702,863 (one hundred nine million seven hundred two thousand eight hundred sixty-three) Leks, and make up 32.65% of the total campaign funds.
The conditions and terms for non-public donations are specified by lawmakers in Article 89 of the Electoral Code. In addition, Articles 90 and 91 specify the political parties’ obligation for a transparent process both in raising private funds and in keeping the donors’ register. Electoral subjects’ private donors must not be entities that have received public funds from or have monetary obligations towards the state budget.
Other funds. The subjects’ other funds may be considered as mixed public and non-public funds. They are called such, for they are the parties’ own funds collected through party statute provisions rather than through legal ones. Such as these are the party base’s contributions or membership fees, the state funds allocated annually for the financing of political parties, the revenues from the bank interest rates out of the bank deposits accumulated over the years.
Furthermore, the political parties’ accumulated funds may be included in this category. It accounts for 46.90% of the political parties’ total funds for the 2009 electoral campaign, and its total worth amounts to 157,587,495 (one hundred fifty-seven million five hundred eighty-seven thousand four hundred ninety-five) Leks.
Another category of funds, which is seen in one electoral subject only, consists in the tariffs for free airtime benefited as political advertising. This is provided for by Article 84, point 6 of the Electoral Code, and is a specific case in which the cost for making the free airtime available to the electoral subjects by private radio/televisions is calculated as a deductible expense for taxation purposes. In the 2009 elections, the revenues on the basis of this legal provision amount to 1.39% of the total campaign funds.
Contributed by: R.E