CEC failed to analyze 2019 financial reports of political parties

Members of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, including EPDE member Promo-LEX,

- draw attention to the fact that, contrary to provisions of the law on political party financing, the CEC did not verify or analyze the financial management reports submitted by political parties to the Commission within a reasonable time for the first reporting period of 2019;

- stress that this is the first time that the half-yearly reports are not examined within a reasonable time by the CEC, based on the date of submission of the reports rather than the content of the reports;

- point out that due to this, the CEC has effectively "amnestied" any possible violations that may have occurred,  since the general limitation period for criminal liability is one year, and thus continues this "amnesty" of possible violations committed by political parties regarding the use of undeclared or non-compliant funds.

Based on the above, and based on the experience of the signatory organizations in monitoring the financing of political parties, the coalition recommends that the Central Election Commission:

- Urgently approve the CEC decision to examine the financial management reports for the first reporting period of 2019, conduct a comprehensive analysis of the reports and funding sources, as well as their compliance with the existing regulatory framework.

- Notify, when necessary, the relevant bodies to begin any criminal processes for violations against provisions of art. 48 and 48 ¹ of the Criminal Code.

- Finalize section 70 of the CEC Regulation on the financing of political parties with provisions that would impose reasonable time limits for the Commission to verify and analyze the reports submitted by parties, which would not exceed the term of "up to three months"

Full statement available here