Analytics, Financial Services, Latvia, Legislation

During the 120-day campaigning period before the local elections last year, the KNAB checked the information about 3,897 donations to political parties totaling EUR 1,770,979.

For comparison, 3,307 donations for the total amount of EUR 2,262,974 were checked before the 2013 local elections, and donations to political parties during the campaigning period before the 2009 elections amounted to EUR 3,079,532.

Parties last year spent EUR 2.7 million on their campaigns for the local elections, with about a half of this amount spent on advertising, mostly on commercials and advertisements on the commercial radio, newspapers, magazines and other printed press, as well as for advertisements indoors and in public places.

Amilija Jaunskunga, the head of the Department for Control over Financing of Political Organizations at the KNAB, told the press that that election campaign spending and income of political parties were decreasing, which led to a conclusion that the role of money in the politics is declining.

Modern election campaigns are different from the campaigns organized ten years ago when the focus was on expensive videos. "Now we see that the focus has shifted to direct communication with voters. It is a less expensive form of campaigning," said Jaunskunga, adding that in the future parties were likely to expand their campaigning on the Internet. The KNAB is working on the solutions for effective monitoring of the online campaigning, she said.

As reported, the KNAB said on Tuesday that the Latvian political parties in their income statements have failed to report on EUR 80,592 in revenues, and have received EUR 37,857 in illegal donations last year. Altogether 19 political parties had failed to report on EUR 80,592 in revenues, and six parties had accepted illegal donations from legal entities worth EUR 37,857 in total ahead of the local elections.