NGO RELEASES PRELIMINARY

UNCLAS BELGRADE 000234 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL SR SUBJECT: NGO RELEASES PRELIMINARY FINDINGS ON PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS' CAMPAIGN FINANCING SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Transparency Serbia's (TS) preliminary findings on political parties' campaign finance reports have raised concerns about the effectiveness of oversight by government bodies. Parties almost certainly spent more money on campaigns than they reported to oversight bodies, suggesting substantial under-the-table donations. End summary. ¶2. (U) On February 9, Transparency Serbia (TS) held a brief press conference presenting preliminary information and highlighting concerns about parliamentary election campaign financing. An estimated audience of twenty, comprised mostly of journalists and representatives of the diplomatic corps, listened to remarks by TS President Vladimir Goati and Program Director Nemanja Nenadic, followed by a brief Q&A. ¶3. (U) The press conference focused on presentation of preliminary data on parties' election campaigns and a call of action for greater oversight by state organs such as the Republic Election Commission (REC),Republic Broadcasting Agency (RBA) and the Ministry of Finance. After parties claimed they were unable to submit their campaign finances to the GOS by the original deadline of Jan 31, the deadline was extended to Feb 18. As expected, TV advertising expenditures generally topped party campaign budgets (compared with print and billboard advertising),with G17+, LDP and DS spending the most for commercial spots. Print advertising expenditures were highest among DSS, DS and SRS, while the highest billboard expenditures came from DS, SRS and DSS. ¶4. (U) From their preliminary analysis, TS asserted that unregistered donations SIPDIS made to political parties were their biggest concern from the Jan 21 parliamentary elections. Data collected thus far shows expenditures in campaigns were extremely high, yet TS claims state organs such as the REC and RBA chose not to investigate suspiciously high spending. TS called on the REC to conduct tighter monitoring of campaign finances, move against those with irregularities and publish parties' financial reports. TS also highlighted concern about the RBA's reluctance to ensure broadcasters are offering equal advertising costs to all prospective buyers. TS urged journalists to investigate the lack of price lists by media companies, which have made it extremely difficult to assess actual costs spent by parties, and to publicize their findings. TS also called for greater enforcement of the new Serbian constitution's Article 10, which requires assets unspent in election campaigns to be refunded to the state budget within the time allotted. ¶5. (SBU) A report in the Feb 20 edition of local daily Blic would seem to substantiate TS predictions by reporting that parliamentary parties have spent much more than entitled to by law and by what they reported to the REC. According to the unsourced Blic article, parties spent an average twice what was reported to the REC. Spending by DS led the way, but virtually all major parties were identified as being over-spenders (exceptions being LDP and SPS). ¶6. (SBU) Comment: It is difficult at this early stage to determine if abuse of campaign finances had a significant impact on election results. G17+, for example, is widely believed to have put substantial sums into a slick marathon campaign - even eliciting services of US campaign consulting guru, Greenberg Research. Yet with the exception of the LDP coalition, all of the democratic bloc parties underperformed compared to their expectations, so this was perhaps money not well spent. The lack of oversight or aggressive enforcement cited by TS is symptomatic of Serbia's relatively young, undeveloped democratic institutions. While corruption remains a problem in Serbia, this particular facet will likely be contained as democratic institutions mature. POLT