1. linking public resources to the illicit financing of political parties
Money and politics –
linking public resources to the illicit financing of political parties
Session: Regulating money and politics: administrative and criminal tools. What works better?
Lina Petronienė
Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Lithuania
Bucharest, 7-8 September, 2017

2. Background
The Central Electoral Commission (CEC):
conducts all kind of election and referendum
controls over funding of political campaigns and political parties.
Majoritarian and proportional systems

3. What is regulated?
The key elements of regulation on funding of political parties and political campaigns concern:
legal sources of funding and limits oof donations,
legal expenditure and limits of political campaign expenditure,
accounting and publicity of funding of political parties and political campaigns,
requirements for political advertising,
control by the CEC and other institutions,
use of IT in exercising control.

4. www.vrk.lt Participant of political campaing Media Monitoring groups
Political party
Registers of:
Residents,
Legal entities,
Party members
CEC IS
Auditor
CEC and other institutions
State Tax Inspectorate IS
Analysts
Journalists
Voters

5. Auditors
Independent auditors cary out inspection of the political campaign according to the terms of reference approved by the CEC which sets the scope of the work performed by the auditor.
Possibilities for auditor:
to get all information concerning participant (entered by treasure, media, observers);
to fulfill report on findings.
Published data: reports on findings

6. Sources of funding of political campaigns
Donations of natural persons
10 average monthly earnings for each participant per campaign, EUR in 2017,
no more than 10% of the annual income per year,
funds received by the political party,
own (personal) funds of a candidate
20 average monthly earnings, EUR,
interest on the funds kept in the bank account.

7. Ability to check Donors and Donations
Entered information before election: within 10 working days the data on donations received
The system alerts:
if person natural person has no right to donate (Residents’ Register)
if donor hadn’t declare income or donations exceed 10 per cent of declared income
if donations exceed the limit.
Published data: donor name and surname, date, sum

8. Expenditures and reports
Entered information: statement of bank account, invoices and contracts information
Possibilities for treasure:
to control total amount of expenditure and debts,
to compare data on political advertising with date submitted by media and observers of political advertising,
to generate all reports, they have to submit to CEC
The system shows which part of limit is used and alerts if limit is exceeded.
Published data: reports, data according to expenditure groups, the list of contracts.

9. Sources of funding of political parties
State budget appropriations (~57,42 % in 2016*),
loans given by the banks registered in the Republic of Lithuania (~24,97%),
voluntarily allocated one per cent of the annual income tax paid by a Lithuanian resident (~10,73 %),
membership fees of the political party (~ 5,75 %)
funds received from political party’s other activities (publishing, organization of political and cultural events, property, etc.) (~1,13 %),
interest on the funds kept in the bank account (0,00%).
*excluding political campaigns

10. Membership fees Limits of membership fees:
The limit of membership fee depends on average monthly earnings (20 earnings, EUR in 2017).
If a member pays more than 360 EUR per year, he has to declare assets and income. The member cannot pay more than 10% of the declared income of previous year.
The system alerts:
if person isn’t a member of current party,
if party member, hadn’t declare income or membership fees exceed 10 per cent of declared income (in case, party member had paid more than 360 EUR per year),
If limit of membership fee is exceeded.

11. Advantages of information system
The information system of the CEC:
helps the CEC to detect different violations of the law:
illegal funding,
undeclared funding or expenditure,
exceeded limits,
hidden advertising, etc.
preventive measure.
used by other institutions

12. Thank you for your attention