A total of 29 political organizations that submitted financial reports to the CEC received state support from the budget. The Party of Socialists (17%) and Our Party (10%) were next to PAS in terms of the size of the “piece of the pie” received.
These data are presented in the monitoring report “Financing of Political Parties in Moldova: Retrospective 2024”, prepared by Promo-LEX Association. “This distribution calls into question the real chances of small parties on the political scene,” said the organization’s experts.
Recall that political parties have been financed by the state since 2016. According to the law, 0.1% of the state budget revenues are allocated for their support. They are distributed mainly depending on the results obtained by the parties in the elections. Such a factor as the representation of women and young people in the party is also taken into account.
Experts state that subventions from the state budget, which in 2024 amounted to 75% of all declared income of parties, remain the main source of their financing. Last year’s results show a slight decrease in the dependence of parties on these allocations compared to 2023, when their share was even higher (84%).
The revenues of political formations from donations have grown significantly. They amounted to 13.5 million lei. This is three times more than in 2023. PAS (35%), Our Party (27%) and PSRM (18%) received most of them.
At the same time, the amounts of membership fees decreased. Only 17 parties collected them, and in 11 of them, even the leaders did not pay them. The monitoring also showed that the number of declared party members continued to decrease. Only the Action and Solidarity Party, the Socialist Party and the Liberal Party declared more than 10,000 members. And 28% of parties have less than 1,000, which is the minimum threshold set by law.
The monitoring revealed that the unregistered expenses of 20 parties amounted to at least 20 million lei, which is 28% of the 71 million lei of officially declared expenses. Most of them were found in the Victory bloc (81%), the Party of Socialists (8%) and PAS (2%). They are mainly advertising in social networks (37%) and political events (21%).
In general, political parties have become more accountable, experts conclude. Last year, 95% of them (compared to 75% in 2023) submitted their financial reports to the CEC. But despite the increase in the number of reports submitted, their quality remains questionable.
