By 2400 hours on Saturday, when the deadline for the submission of reports on received donations and campaign costs expired, the State Election Commission received reports from 103 participants in the forthcoming parliamentary elections of the 134 that had the obligation to do so.
Of the 63 political parties running in the December 4 election, reports were submitted by 56, while seven failed to do it. Of the 15 heads of independent slates running in the election, 14 submitted their reports and one did not. Of the 56 candidates of ethnic minorities, 33 submitted their reports and 23 did not, DIP spokesman Hrvoje Sadaric told media on Sunday.
Sadaric said DIP would wait to see if some reports would arrive by mail.
Regardless of that, participants in the elections are expected to publish their reports on their web sites or in daily newspapers by midnight on Monday, Sadaric said.
After that deadline expires, DIP will publish a combined report on the candidates who have submitted their reports and those who have not and on possible irregularities. DIP is expected to publish the combined report on Tuesday.
Election participants are expected to submit final reports on received donations and campaign costs within a period of 15 days from the day final election results are made known.
Under the new law on the financing of political activities and election campaigns, which was adopted in February this year and which envisages stricter control of sources of financing and the way money is spent in election campaigns, the total amount of donations by a physical person to a political party, independent slate or candidate in one calendar year must not exceed 30,000 kuna, while the total amount of donations by a legal person must not exceed 200,000 kuna.
The overall cost of an election campaign per slate in one constituency must not exceed 1.5 million kuna.
Participants in elections are expected to open a separate bank account for the financing of their election campaigns.
The new law, which authorises DIP to supervise the financing of election campaigns, envisages sanctions for noncompliance with rules on the financing of election campaigns, including the administrative sanction of denying a participant in elections the right to compensation for electioneering costs, and a fine in the amount of up to 500,000 kuna.
