NGOs call for reform of campaign finance rules

Budapest, June 3 (MTI) – NGOs in Hungary have turned to lawmakers with a call to reform campaign finance rules and to clean up corruption.

The civil organisations Transparency International Magyarorszag, Atlatszo and K-Monitor together with think-tank Political Capital sent an open letter to parliamentarians to coincide with a conference held on Wednesday on transparency in local government and campaign finance.

Robert Laszlo, a Political Capital analyst, told a news conference the rules should be changed before the 2018 general election to ensure there are no “bogus parties” or misuse of public funds. He added that political parties should account for the public funds allocated to them as strictly as individual constituency candidates who receive central government support. The accounting of political parties and individual candidates should be published on the internet, he said.

It is theoretically not a problem that the central budget supports campaign financing but it is problematic that parties are not made to account for the money they use. They most probably “pocket it”, he added.