On March 16th, 2015, the Institute for Public Affairs organized the presentation of results of the monitoring of campaign financing in mayoral elections in 8 regional cities (centers of self-governed regions) of Slovakia (local elections, November 2014).  Presentation is one of the outputs of the project Transparency of Local Government Elections in Central and Eastern Europe.

The peculiarity of the legal situation in Slovakia is that the current law on elections of local self-governments does not regulate campaign financing. It does not set any obligations for candidates despite the fact that the law was amended totally 15 times since 1990. Therefore it was a voluntary decision of particular candidates, how to handle with disclosure of data about their campaign. Before the elections IVO (together with other NGOs) appealed to the candidates to apply the principles of transparency, to open the so-called transparent accounts and to disclose their real campaign expenses.

Collecting the data through the monitoring, conducted by volunteers in combination with voluntary disclosure of information about election campaign expenses by part of candidates at the end brought an overview of campaign financing in mayoral elections in regional centers. The aim of the monitoring, carried out by specially trained volunteers, was to elaborate the accurate (as much as possible)  and qualified estimate of election expenses. It included the collection of data about promotion materials and electoral activities of the candidates, records from election events and interview with representatives of the candidates.

Download:

Tlačová správa - monitoring financovania volebnej kampane (in Slovak, pdf)
Prezentácia výsledkov monitoringu financovania kampane (in Slovak, pdf)

Photo:


The project results were presented by IVO president Grigori Mesežnikov (right). The various aspects of campaign financing and transparency issues were discussed by experts Jaroslav Pilát (left) and Peter Kunder (in the middle).


Press conference, presentation of results and discussion.

This international project is in the realization from 2014 to 2016, thanks to the support from the European Union, in cooperation with Institute of Public Affairs (ISP, Warsaw, Poland), and Transparency International Slovenia– Integriteta (Ljubljana, Slovenia). 

Selected media coverage in English 

spectator.sk
Only one third of mayoral candidates had transparent campaigns

Selected media coverage in Slovak
 
SITA
IVO: Tretina kandidátov na primátorov bola transparentná

TASR
Inštitút pre verejné otázky: O transparentnosť sa snažila tretina kandidátov na primátora

aktuality.sk
Mesežnikov: Volič bez prieskumu verejnej mienky? To je obmedzovanie práva na informácie

atlas.sk
Kampaň k voľbám primátorov rozobraná na drobné: Toto sú traja najväčší hriešnici

hirek.sk
IVO: a polgármesterjelöltek egyharmada tette közzé kampányköltségét

Rádio Slovensko
Výdavky na predvolebnú kampaň nezverejnili dve tretiny kandidátov

RTVS Jednotka
Financovanie predvolebných kampaní

TV Markíza
Účty za kampaň

Naše Novinky - Canal 14
Prezentácia výsledkov monitorovania financovania kampane

nasenovinky.sk
Voličov lákali na transparentnosť, po voľbách sa k nej nehlásia

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