A report on political party funds released by the Central Elections Commissions, but questions still remain over non-transparent private funding system
TIRANA, Feb. 18 – Albanian political parties, including those in government, say they lack basic funding and have many debts, according to their financial reports.
The Central Election Commission has issued a report on the financial situation of all political parties in Albania, showing that governing Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama has a lot of debt, despite being one of the two main parties, which means it a generous amount of money in public funding. The governing Socialists closed last year with Lek 123 million in debt, according to the report.
The opposition Democratic Party of Tirana Mayor Lulzim Basha, on the other hand, had managed to collect a surplus of Lek 31 million. It was in power until September last year.
Analysts are also concerned about a lack of transparency in political financing as the two large parties held an intensive — and expensive — electoral campaign last year that clearly overspent their public financing.
