site.btaAudited Parties and Coalitions Spend BGN 2.4 Mln on 2024 European Parliament Elections

Audited political parties and coalitions spent a total of BGN 2.4 million on the European Parliament elections held in the middle of last year, including expenses and non-cash funds/donations, indicated the Court of Auditors’ audit report on expenses related to the election campaign, which was published on Monday.

A total of 11 political parties and 6 coalitions were audited.

The most common violations or omissions of participants in the elections for members of the European Parliament were undeclared donations, unpaid debts and financing after the end of the campaign, the announcement said.

Individual participants violated the legal requirements for submitting information during the campaign to the Court of Auditors for publication in the Unified Register under the Election Code.

A total of 87 donations from individuals and funding from candidates exceeding the minimum wage were made to the election participants.

The established total amount of income of all audited participants was BGN 2,395,437, of which BGN 1,535,248 for parties and BGN 860,189 for coalitions.

The income of the parties was formed from: own funds (BGN 1,147,421); donations from individuals (BGN 124,320); funds provided by candidates (BGN 49,052); funds for media packages (BGN 214,455).

The income of the coalitions was from: own funds of the political parties participating in them (BGN 528,677); donations (BGN 13,086); funding from candidates (BGN 202,937); funds for media packages (BGN 115,489).

No violations of the Election code were found in the case of 14 audited election participants – 9 political parties (Bulgarian Rise, Velichie, VMRO - Bulgarian National Movement, Vazrazhdane, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Edinenie (Unity), Green Movement, There Is Such a People and the Party of the Greens) and five coalitions (BSP for Bulgaria, GERB-UDF, Civil Bloc, The Left  and the Bulgarian Solidarity Coalition).

Forty-seven individuals have provided or donated funds exceeding BGN 1,000 to finance the election campaign of the election participants.

The parties with the highest established income were Vazrazhdane (BGN 570,388), There Is Such a People (BGN 284,571), Movement for Rights and Freedoms (BGN 197,934 ), Morality, Unity, Honor (BGN 132,140) and VMRO-BNM (BGN 85,621).

The coalitions with the highest established income were: Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (BGN 328,045), GERB-UDF (BGN 305,095), BSP for Bulgaria (BGN 66,802) and Bulgarian Solidarity Coalition (BGN 61,269).

The participants in the 2024 European Parliament elections who incurred the most expenses were: Vazrazhdane (BGN 561,004), There Is Such a People  (BGN 284,571), Movement for Rights and Freedoms (BGN 197,934), Morality, Unity, Honor (BGN 128,089), GERB-UDF (BGN 122,575).

The participants with the largest established total amount of campaign financing were: Vazrazhdane (BGN 561,392), Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (BGN 328,045), GERB-UDF (BGN 305,095), There Is Such a People (BGN 284,571), Movement for Rights and Freedoms (BGN 197,934), Morality, Unity, Honor (BGN 128,209) and VMRO-BNM (BGN 85,621).