OSCE supports party financing reform

The OSCE Mission to Moldova supports discussions on the reform of political party financing. At an international conference on October 30, local and international experts discussed the situation and problems related to political party funding, options for reforming public funding system, transparency of political party finance and proposals for strengthening women’s participation in politics, the Mission said in a press release. The participants highlighted shortcomings of the current system, including a small number of donors, lack of transparency and disclosure mechanisms, lack of a system of effective control over political party and campaign finance. The conference is a part of the OSCE Mission’s activities to support democratic processes in the country. The event was organized in partnership with the Central Electoral Commission, the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives IDIS „Viitorul”, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) representation in Moldova and the non-governmental organization East-Europe Foundation. The Central Election Commission, one of the co-organizers, has earlier created a task-force to develop a bill on political party financing. The task-force is proposing to lower the upper limit for political party donations and membership fees, after the number of donors in the latest elections was found to decrease, while the amounts of money spent on elections rose.