Campaign financiers remain hidden

The country's largest political parties are accused of disguising financial reports in order to obscure their funding sources.

With a May general election on the horizon, the issue of party financing is growing increasingly relevant. By law, political parties are obligated to submit their annual financial reports to the Chamber of Deputies by April 1 of each year, and the reports are to include election expenses.

"It is clear the main political parties govern these committees, making the effectiveness of financial transparency dubious," said Eliška Císařová, project manager at the watchdog group Transparency International in the Czech Republic.

She added that, although parties submit their reports to the chamber, "the majority of political parties do not make public their financial reports, and those that do make it so convoluted that, to an ordinary citizen, it does not make sense."

The Green Party agrees campaign financing is in need of stricter legislation.

"There needs to be more detailed reporting on campaign expenditure," said party spokesman René Kubášek. "Parties should receive donations in transparent accounts and make public the names of donors on their Internet pages."

The Green Party, which received 19 million Kč from the state in 2009, estimated they will spend 5 million to 10 million Kč on the upcoming election. According to Transparency International, the Civic Democrats (ODS) received more than 197 million Kč and the Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) more than 132 million Kč from the state in 2009, although they incurred 541 million Kč and 273 million Kč, respectively, in expenditures, meaning that the difference is met by private donors.

Císařová claims the system of verifying documents in Parliament is inadequate.

"A lot of transactions are paper-based, and any quantitative or qualitative research would be very difficult," she said. "If the political parties really want to publish information and allow citizens to access it, they could create a searchable database, regularly updated and monitored."

Parties are reluctant to publicize the sources of their funds, however, as they may be accused of bowing to pressure or favoritism.

The government has earmarked a total of 1.056 billion Kč for the May election, of which, according to the Finance Ministry, 570 million Kč will be allocated to reimbursing party campaign expenditures. (According to election law, parties that receive at least 1.5 percent of the total number of valid votes are reimbursed 100 Kč per vote.) The remaining 486 million Kč will go toward funding the State Electoral Commission, the police and local authorities to ensure the election runs smoothly, said Finance Ministry spokesman Jakub Haas.

ODS and ČSSD are expected to spend somewhere in the region of 200 million Kč each, according to the budgets of last year's canceled election.

- Petr Cibulka Jr. contributed to this report.

Philip Heijmans can be reached at
pheijmans@praguepost.com