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2007 Assessment

Bulgaria: Integrity Indicators Scorecard

Bulgaria: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Political Financing
Indicators		Score
20	Are there regulations governing political financing?	100
21	Are the regulations governing political financing effective?	46
22	Can citizens access records related to political financing?	83

Indicator and sub-Indicator Details

Are there regulations governing political financing?

20a: In law, there are regulations governing private contributions to political parties.

Score:

YES

Comments: It limits anonymous donations, for instance.

References: Law on Political Parties, 2005, Chapter 3, [ LINK ]

20b: In law, there are limits on individual donations to candidates and political parties.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Electoral laws

Law on Political Parties

20c: In law, there are limits on corporate donations to candidates and political parties.

Score:

YES

Comments: There is a 30,000 leva (US$22,500) limit for corporate donations and a 10,000 leva (US$7500) for individuals (1 euro equals 1.95 leva).

References: The Law on Political Parties, [ LINK ];

Law for Parliamentary Elections Art. 71, 2, [ LINK ]

20d: In law, there are limits on total political party expenditures.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Electoral Law for Parliamentary Elections [ LINK ]

Art. 72: 1 million leva (US$750,000) for a party; 2 million leva (US$1.5 million) for a coalition.

20e: In law, there are requirements for disclosure of donations to political candidates and parties.

Score:

YES

$Scoring Criteria :: YES: A YES score is earned if there are any requirements mandating the disclosure of financial contributions to political parties or candidates. NO: A NO score is earned if there are no requirements mandating the disclosure of contributions to political parties or candidates, existing regulations do not require a donor\'s name or amount given, or the regulations allow for anonymous donations.$

Comments: This law was amended, so that it is now possible to inquire about the names of the donors and the amount of their donations.

References: Law on Political Parties

20f: In law, there are requirements for the independent auditing of the finances of political parties and candidates.

Score:

YES

Comments: The State Audit Office is monitoring the financing of the political parties and electoral candidates.

References: The Law on Political Parties (Art. 34)

Electoral Laws

20g: In law, there is an agency or entity that monitors the political financing process.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: The State Audit Office

Law on Political Parties

Are the regulations governing political financing effective?

21a: In practice, the limits on individual donations to candidates and political parties are effective in regulating an individual's ability to financially support a candidate or political party.

Score:

100

Comments: The limits are not effective because of several problems:

1) the administration of such limits requires significant resources and prerogatives, which the Bulgarian electoral commissions and other bodies lack;

2) There is mutual understanding by candidates and parties not to begin proceedings against each other;

3) Full disclosure mechanisms have been introduced relatively recently in 2006;

4) There are no universally accepted foreign models of enforcement of such rules - these are problematic everywhere.

References: Smilov and Toplak (eds.), Political Finance and Corruption in Eastern Europe: The Transition Period, Ashgate, 2007

21b: In practice, the limits on corporate donations to candidates and political parties are effective in regulating a company's ability to financially support a candidate or political party.

Score:

100

Comments: There are various ways of avoiding limits:

1) intermediaries such as party foundations;

2) direct purchase of goods and services for the parties;

3) breaking up of big donations into a number of small ones.

Furthermore, there are problems in the enforcement mechanism. See my comments to the previous question regarding limits on individual contributions.

References: Smilov and Toplak (eds.), Political Finance and Corruption in Eastern Europe: The Transition Period, Ashgate, 2007

21c: In practice, the limits on total party expenditures are effective in regulating a political party's ability to fund campaigns or politically-related activities.

Score:

100

Comments: See my previous comments on the last two questions regarding individual and company contributions. They are fully applicable here as well.

References: Smilov and Toplak (eds.), Political Finance and Corruption in Eastern Europe: The Transition Period, Ashgate, 2007

21d: In practice, when necessary, an agency or entity monitoring political financing independently initiates investigations.

Score:

100

Comments: The Bulgarian enforcement mechanism of party funding regulations is very weak. In general, the State Audit Office has no independent powers to initiate investigations into party finances. It is only checking the consistency and authenticity of documentation. It could ask the prosecutor's office to start investigations. The same is true of the electoral commissions.

References: Smilov and Toplak (eds.), Political Finance and Corruption in Eastern Europe: The Transition Period, Ashgate, 2007

21e: In practice, when necessary, an agency or entity monitoring political financing imposes penalties on offenders.

Score:

100

Comments: The Bulgarian enforcement mechanism of party funding regulations is very weak. In general, the State Audit Office has no independent powers to initiate investigations into party finances. it is only checking the consistency and authenticity of documentation. It could ask the prosecutor's office to start investigations. The same is true of the electoral commissions.

References: Smilov and Toplak (eds.), Political Finance and Corruption in Eastern Europe: The Transition Period, Ashgate, 2007

21f: In practice, contributions to political parties and candidates are audited.

Score:

100

Comments: These are audited by the State Audit Office. Yet, as mentioned above, the audit office works only on documents which are provided to it by the candidates. It cannot open independent investigations and generally has no investigative powers.

References: Smilov and Toplak (eds.), Political Finance and Corruption in Eastern Europe: The Transition Period, Ashgate, 2007

Can citizens access records related to political financing?

22a: In practice, political parties and candidates disclose data relating to financial support and expenditures within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments: There are serious doubts about the quality of this data, however. Small parties often fail to report, but they are not involved in the political process anyway.

References: Smilov and Toplak (eds.), Political Finance and Corruption in Eastern Europe: The Transition Period, Ashgate, 2007

Peer Review Comments: Small parties often fail to report.

22b: In practice, citizens can access the financial records of political parties and candidates within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments: The State Audit Office publishes synthetic accounts of the party reports, and they are accessible via the Internet. Anyone who requires more detailed accounts needs to ask the State Audit Office via procedures defined by the Law on the Access to Public Information.

References: Interviews with Dimo Grozdev, Transparency International

Smilov and Toplak (eds.), Political Finance and Corruption in Eastern Europe: The Transition Period, Ashgate, 2007

22c: In practice, citizens can access the financial records of political parties and candidates at a reasonable cost.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: They are published on the Web site of the State Audit Office in a summary form.