On Tuesday, 20 November, the Public Administration and Local Government Committee of the Saeima approved amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties) to be considered in the final reading. They set forth that a political organisation (party) member’s total contributions in the form of admission fees, membership fees and gifts (donations) to one political organisation (party) may not exceed 50 minimum monthly salaries over a calendar year instead of the current limitation of 100 salaries.

The same regulation will also apply to natural persons. As of 1 January 2013, a natural person’s total contributions in the form of gifts or donations to one political organisation (party) may not exceed 50 minimum monthly salaries over a calendar year instead of the current limitation in the amount of 100 salaries.

The gift (donation) will be considered accepted if the political organisation (party) has not returned it to the giver (donor) within 60 days from receipt of the gift (donation). Currently the period for making this decision is 30 days.

These amendments are necessary because as of 1 January 2013, political parties will be entitled to financing from the state budget and also because it is necessary to reduce the influence of private financing on the activity of political parties.

The amendments will also specify the procedure according to which the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau should request information about the legitimacy of the income of the natural person making a contribution to a political party. The amendments will also entitle the person to request that the deadline for providing such information be postponed if there are objective reasons for that.

If contributions in the form of admission fees, membership fees and gifts (donations) fail to meet the requirements of the Law, the relevant financial resources should be transferred to the state budget, and the relevant property should be handed over to the state.

Today the Committee supported the proposed amendment according to which the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau will have 45 days instead of currently stipulated 30 days for preliminary verification of information on received gifts (donations). Ilze Jurča, deputy head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau, explained to MPs that it was necessary to extend this period because verification of documents and gathering of information from various state information systems is a labour-intensive process.

In order to streamline the regulation on financing political parties from the state budget, the amendments will set forth that financing from the state budget will also be available for political parties that are formed after the general election as a result of a merger of two or more political parties that previously received financing from the state budget.

The amendments proposed for the final reading will reduce election campaign expenditures by half. Subsequently, political parties in general and local government elections will be allowed to spend before elections an amount that does not exceed the average gross monthly salary of the year before the last year multiplied by the number of voters that participated in the previous general election and by the coefficient of 0.0004. Currently this coefficient is 0.0008. In the case of an extraordinary general election, this coefficient will be reduced from 0.0004 to 0.0003.

The Saeima plans to vote on the amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties) on 29 November.


Saeima Press Service