Political party funding mechanisms in Moldova have in recent years raised questions among the civil society. The press has not neglected this topic, either, and produced articles and journalistic investigations in attempts to reveal all hidden irregularities behind financial reports. Where political parties get money, what their income and expenses are, what funding sources are used to organize concerts and to pay international stars – these are some of the questions that the students of the School of Advanced Journalism asked Pavel Postica, the director of the Monitoring Democratic Processes Program of the Promo-LEX Association.

Political parties in Moldova should be funded from three important sources: self-funding, donations from individuals and legal entities, and funding from the state budget. However, donations from individuals and legal entities are currently their main source of funding. At the same time, the thresholds imposed on donations do not always reflect the living standards of Moldovan citizens. This very fact raised suspicions among media representatives and made them carefully study the information presented in financial reports submitted to the Central Electoral Commission by political parties during election campaigns in recent years.

One of the methods that might contribute to transparency in incomes and expenses is, according to Pavel Postica, funding from the state budget. “It might help prevent influence peddling and ensure the principle of equality, and all parties would benefit, including small ones,” he underlined. At the same time, public funding would reduce parties’ dependence on certain groups of persons.

Students asked the Promo-LEX program director about the penalties applied to the political parties that fail to submit financial reports. “There are no penalties,” Pavel Postica said. He added that in the near future Promo-LEX experts are going to make proposals of modifying the law in this regard. The main penalty would be deprivation of the right to receive money from the state budget. “We will demand much harsher fines for the parties that will submit wrong data, false or incomplete information in their financial reports,” he concluded.

At the end of the meeting, Pavel Postica underlined the importance of involving mass media not only in the coverage of election campaigns, but also in production of articles and journalistic investigations about the irregularities discovered in political parties’ financial reports. “Interest for this topic is growing. So, be careful with details. Consult the election monitoring reports of the Central Electoral Commission and of the Ministry of Justice. Confront data and carefully verify all information,” the guest said.

The Promo-LEX Association analyzes funding for political parties within the “Combating Political Corruption in Moldova by Improving Legal Framework on Funding for Political Parties and Civic Surveillance” project implemented with the support of the Good Governance Fund of the British Embassy in Chisinau. A study on this topic will be launched at the end of March.