The election campaign in Kosovo is a multi-million dollar contest. Although political parties are required to report their spending, election observers raise concerns about the transparency of the donations they receive.
Political parties in Kosovo are allowed to spend over two million euros on the campaign for the parliamentary elections on February 9, or no less than one euro per registered voter. This is stipulated in the regulation of the Central Election Commission (CEC), adopted in August last year. The regulation specifies that in general, local and mayoral elections, the spending limit will be no less than one euro per voter.
In previous elections, it was 0.50 cents per voter. For the February 9 elections, the number of registered voters is 2,075,868. The election campaign officially started on January 11 and will last until the day the polling stations open. With its start, the competing parties have also officially started spending money. The expenses include money for political marketing on television, social networks, information technology services, travel, rallies with candidates, fuel, hiring the necessary staff for the campaign, logistics, lighting and sound systems for halls. In addition, money is also needed for the production of promotional materials, such as: business cards, T-shirts, hats, brochures, party flags, professional video shoots, etc., says Eugen Cakolli from the network of non-governmental organizations, Democracy in Action (DnV), which monitors the election campaign.
But so far, only the expenses made on social networks have been made public. The Meta company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, publishes data on sponsored political ads or messages. Analyzing a 30-day period, it turns out that some contestants started spending on Facebook campaigns before their official launch.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty contacted all four parties that have candidates for prime minister – the Vetëvendosje Movement with Albin Kurti, the Democratic Party of Kosovo with Bedri Hamza, the Democratic League of Kosovo with Lumir Abdixhiku and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo with Ramush Haradinaj – but none responded to questions about how much money they have spent on the campaign so far and how much they plan to spend. Cakolli expects the current campaign to be more expensive compared to past ones, because, as he says, it has focused on marketing in the digital sphere.
HOW DO POLITICAL PARTIES PROVIDE MONEY?
Political parties are financed from two sources – from the state budget and from external donors – in the form of cash or through contributions in goods and services. Financing from the state budget is provided annually through the Fund for the Support of Political Entities. This fund in this year’s budget – of 3.6 billion euros – has a value of 4.8 million euros. The funds have not yet been distributed for this year, because the recommendation proposed by the Office of Political Parties within the Central Election Commission has not received the necessary votes from the members of the CEC. New efforts are expected in the coming months.
The Fund for Support of Political Entities had the same value as last year: 4.8 million euros. The allocation is made based on the representation of political parties in the Kosovo Assembly, which has a total of 120 seats.
HOW MUCH DID THE PARTIES PROFIT LAST YEAR?
From the Fund for the Support of Political Entities, the Vetëvendosje Movement, as the largest political entity, benefited from 2.2 million euros. The Democratic Party of Kosovo received over 760 thousand euros, followed by the Democratic League of Kosovo with 640 thousand euros and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo with 320 thousand euros. The other ten parties represented in the Assembly were each allocated less than 100 thousand euros.
HOW MUCH ARE THE DONATIONS?
Under the Regulation on Election Campaigns, Election Campaign Monitoring and Financial Declaration, political parties are entitled to accept additional campaign contributions from natural and legal persons. Natural persons can give up to 2,000 euros, while legal persons can give no more than 10,000 euros. These contributions can be given from the day the election date is announced until the day the elections are held. The CEC announced February 9 as the date for the parliamentary elections in August last year. However, in the latest reports published on the websites of political parties, donations and contributions are not in large financial amounts.
In the financial report for the period July-September 2024 of the Vetëvendosje Movement, in the category of donations and contributions, it is stated that 3,227 euros were collected, while 88 euros from membership. PDK has not published any report on donations for any period of 2024, while in the period September-December 2023, only one person donated 100 euros. For the period July-September last year, according to the LDK report, this party collected 2,995 euros in donations. AAK, meanwhile, received 5,058 euros in donations in the last three months of last year. All published reports also include the names of contributors, who in some cases are members or even party chairmen themselves. (REL)