Campaign spending in the upcoming October 3 local elections is opaque and recent government-enacted changes on campaign rules has led to greater abuses of the system, Transparency International (TI) Hungary told MTI on Wednesday.
The government has set no limit on campaign spending, TI said in a statement.
It said that “the government’s measure […] on reducing party financing from the central budget by 15 percent has forced them look for alternative sources of financing. The shortening of the period of time allowed for collecting recommendation slips for party candidates has increased abuses,” the statement said.
TI noted the lack of comprehensive regulation on controlling the incomes and expenditures of parties, and it accused the new government of taking token measures to put campaign and party financing in order.
“The only safeguard for confining corruption would be to have legislation on transparency and accountability in place,” TI said.
