No limits to funding political parties

TIRANA, Oct 1 – The parliamentary commission in charge of preparing the new electoral code made a big step to decide there was no limit in funding the political parties during the electoral campaigns.
Financial sources have always been a source of dispute between the main political groupings, often accusing each other of spending public money, or coming from suspected sources to support their candidates.
The parliamentary commission will have one more month to work and complete the new electoral code that became obligatory after the parliament passed constitutional amendments last April changing the voting system into a regional proportional one.
Until now political parties could have a funding of no more than one million leks, a limit that may now go up to five or ten million.
Funding transparency has been an issue of criticism from international institutions as well.
Political parties will be obliged to present a full list of the donors and that will be published at the election bulletin in the end.
The new electoral code may also include the creation of an auditing institution to check the financial balance of the political parties during the electoral campaigns.