The most transparent election campaigns so far have been run by Progressive Slovakia (PS), SaS and KDH, while Smer-SD has had the most obscure campaign, according to an evaluation by Transparency International Slovakia (TIS).
Of all the parties running in the snap election, TIS processed the first assessment of the 15 that had racked up at least €50,000 worth of expenditures and at least ten major expenditure transactions in a transparent account by August 22. The organisation based its assessment on 17 indicators split into three categories, namely transparent account, campaign financing and campaign awareness.
Only four of the 15 parties have passed the 'transparent campaign' test, namely PS, SaS, KDH and Za ludi, which is running in a three-way coalition with OLaNO and the Christian Union (KU).
According to TIS, PS's campaign has cost €1.36 million so far and the expenditures are detailed in the party's transparent account. Meanwhile, Smer-SD is running the biggest election campaign yet, worth €2 million, but according to the organisation, it has provided almost no information about its financing. "The campaign is probably financed exclusively from party money, which is, however, transferred from the transparent account in large aggregate payments to Smer's own agency," TIS claimed.
The organisation also stated that the campaign of the OLaNO and Friends movement is also partly obscure, as it hasn't disclosed expenditures on the Fiat 500 cars it has been using in its campaign. Discrepancies in the size of the outdoor campaign and spending on transparent accounts have been also noted by the TIS in the case of the Republika party.
The parties' transparent accounts show that they've already spent a total of €12.1 million on campaigning, which is half of the total spending of all political parties in the 2020 general election, which ultimately reached €23.6 million.
TIS noted that for one third of the 15 parties evaluated, it is difficult to find out from their transparent accounts what they are paying for in the campaign. Large aggregate payments to media agencies have been used to some extent by ten of the 15 parties. Shortcomings also persist with the clear identification of donations and loans.
The snap general election in Slovakia is due to take place on September 30. Parties can spend no more than €3 million on campaigning, VAT included, and they are obliged to use a transparent banking account.
(TASR)
