Closer scrutiny planned for election financing disclosures

Disagreement in working group on campaign spending limits

Tuija Brax

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A ceiling is to be set for election campaign financing, and campaign funding disclosures are to be closely examined, if proposals of a working group on election spending are implemented.
      The group has nearly completed work on its proposal, and plans to submit it to Minister of Justice Tuija Brax (Green) next week. Helsingin Sanomat has learned that the proposal will not be unanimous.
     
Disagreement among the members of the group surround a proposal for a ceiling on campaign funding, an idea opposed by the National Coalition Party and the Centre Party. Possible dissenting opinions among members of the working group will be submitted on Thursday.
      The majority feel that a limit of EUR 20,000 per candidate should be set for spending on municipal elections, EUR 100,000 for Parliamentary elections, and EUR 200,000 for elections to the European Parliament. The ceiling in Presidential elections would be EUR two million for each round of voting.
      Individual donors would be allowed to contribute no more than EUR 3,000-10,000, depending on the election. There is no limit to spending by party organisations.
     
The working group also feels that disclosures of election spending by individual candidates should be submitted to the National Audit Office of Finland. Currently the reports are handled by the Ministry of Justice and municipal election commissions.
      Under the proposals, campaign spending needs to be itemised according to the different types of advertising, the organisation of election events, and other costs.
      The disclosures should also indicate how much of a candidate’s own money was used, how much money was borrowed, and how much support came from other individuals, companies, party organisations, and other sources.
      Support groups built around individual candidacies will also be expected to itemise their sources of revenue. This means that a candidate can no longer simply name his or her support group as a “contributor”.
     
The proposal defines campaign costs as costs incurred up to two months before and two months after an election, regardless of when the payment is made.
      This means that contributions that come more than two months after an election to pay off a campaign debt will have to be disclosed separately.
      Volunteer unpaid work by supporters does not need to be reported as campaign costs, but candidates are required to report other types of non-monetary contributions.
     
Another controversial part of the proposal involves the disclosure of donors’ names.
      The working group proposes that the identity of donors needs to be disclosed for contributions of over EUR 2,000 in presidential elections and elections for the European Parliament. For Parliamentary and municipal elections, the limit is EUR 1,000. The Centre and National Coalition have called for higher thresholds.
      The National Audit Office is to be given the task of publishing the disclosures on the Internet, and to check the veracity of the reports. If there are any shortcomings, the office can impose a conditional fine in order to get supplementary information.
     
The bill would not impose any bookkeeping obligations on the candidates, nor will the candidate be required to keep a separate bank account for the campaign. However, candidates will be expected to account for the sources of campaign finances.
      The proposal also provides for the possibility of a candidate to report on campaign funding before the elections, which would give voters advance information on the sources of a candidate’s funding. Some members of the working group would have wanted to make an advance report mandatory, but a majority felt that the pressure of public opinion would be enough.
      Candidates’ campaign organisations would be allowed to raise funds without a separate permit, and the bill would also allow the campaigns to collect money without paying taxes.
     
Also proposed is a legislative amendment that would require municipal decision-makers responsible for zoning and construction to disclose their economic linkages, in the same way that Members of Parliament are required to do.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Parties seeking money and candidates for European election (5.11.2008)
  Members of Parliament revising campaign finance reports (16.5.2008)
  Election financiers (18.5.2008)
  Centre Party MṔs comments spark campaign finance row (15.5.2008)
  Brax wants monitoring of election campaign funding away from Ministry of Justice (19.5.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat