Sun, Jul 05 2009

Election transparency levels dangerously low - TIB

Wed, Apr 16 2008 15:58 CET byPetar Kostadinov 183 Views

The level of transparency in terms of political party finding was dangerously low at the 2007 municipal elections in Bulgaria, Transparency International Bulgaria (TBI)  told a news conference on April 16 2008.

The elections were given a transparency index of 1.77 points from a maximum of 10, Bulgarian news agency BTA said. This is the lowest index since 2005, when TIB had its first survey on the issue.

The current survey was conducted in October-November 2007 and covered the cities of Varna, Rousse, Haskovo, Vidin, Doupnitsa and Bourgas.

Just 131 of the 326 registered candidates for mayors and municipal councillors in the six cities have presented reports on the financing of their campaigns TIB said.

By not submitting their reports candidates have demonstrated a lack of desire to observe the law, said political analyst Anatolii Gulabov. For him it was quite obvious that a large part of the parties played the role of "letter box" formations, in other words they are used for the re-distribution of funds during elections.

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