
Campaign spendings of the municipal elections are non-transparent
The estimated spendings of the parliamentary parties based on the received data will be published onwww.kepmutatas.hu by TI Hungary after the closing of the elections.
Only symbolic decisions gestures presented so far
The reduction of the campaign period from 72 to 60 days is a gesture to be appreciated from the government’s side as a shorter period will most probably result in less campaign spending. On the other hand the unduly shortened time allowed to collect candidate cards as well as the modification of the ’campaign silence’ will not make campaign financing more transparent. The decrease of the period appointed for the gathering of candidate cards endangers the democratic elections and raises the chances of card misuse. Finally the 15 % cutback of the parties’ budget support will force them to cover their operational costs from other sources.
The core of the problem is the lack of suitable regulations to the controll parties’ revenue and costs. „Sources must be found by the parties but due to the absence of transparency we have no idea about the private and business interests that stand behind the parties.” – said Noémi Alexa, executive director of Transparency International Hungary. „Hence we suggest a more severe regulation of the parties’ reporting obligations, the introduction of a compulsory campaign account as well as the enlargement of authority for the control institutions. – added the leader of the anti-corruption organization.
Parties are the basic pillars of the democratic institutions – they must not violate law during the campaign
During the parliamentary elections party-spendings exceeded the HUF 1 million limit according to our calculations. They spent far more than the upper bound included in the law so their campaigns violated law. The reports at the same time did not reflect their actual costs. In the case of municipal elections there is no law on spending limits, parties can spend without financial bounds. Only the legal assurance of transparency and accountability can guarantee significant achievements in the fight against corruption.