Labour's deputy leader says party spending on electoral campaigns should not be capped

Just days after the government published a historic white paper to regulate the financing of political parties and candidates, PL Deputy Leader Toni Abela has insisted that no capping on political parties' spending should be imposed, as the "spending is up to each candidate's discretion".

"Provided that the parties' spending is legitimate and their capital is registered, political parties should not be hindered from spending their money on their respective electoral campaigns. The measures should be focused on ensuring that the spending during a candidate's electoral campaign legitimate," Toni Abela explained this evening while being hosted on Reno Bugeja's Dissett.

Among its proposals, the White Paper on party financing seeks to regulate the parties' expenditure during electoral campaigns, the regulation of political parties' statutes, the registration of parties with the electoral commission and the regulation of donations by private individuals or companies.

Also hosted on Dissett was PN Secretary General Chris Said who said the Nationalist Party agrees on the white paper and the introduction of capping on the spending of electoral candidates.

"A Nationalist backbencher [Franco Debono] had authored a draft law under the previous PN administration and moreover, the white paper had long been in the pipeline under previous governments. Consequently, the PN sees the white paper as fundamental for the democracy of Malta and its politics' playing field ... especially in the wake of Labour's shady electoral spending and declarations," Said argued in a dig at Labour's "excessive" spending during the March general election.

Following the election, official figures by the PN and the PL showed that the Labour Party spent €500,000 less than their counterparts - a contentious issue for Chris Said who said the figure was not reflective of the PL's electoral propaganda and campaign.

The White Paper is also proposing that the paltry amounts candidates are currently allowed to spend in an electoral campaign be revised upwards. The ceiling for general elections is set to increase from €1,400 to €25,000 while that for European elections is €50,000. Local council elections capping is set to increase to €5,000.

However, the proposed revision seems to be an Achilles' heel for the Nationalist Party Secretary General who said the proposed thresholds should be reduced while on the other hand, AD spokesperson Mario Mallia said the increase in thresholds risk create an uneven playing field for aspiring candidates.

"An increase in the capping of spending by candidates would serve to benefit deep-pocketed candidates, while on the other side of the coin, the increased threshold would hinder the campaign of other candidates who wish to serve their country but do not have enough money," Mallia pointed out.

Moreover, the Green Party spokesperson also argued that the Electoral Commission should not be chosen to streamline the parties' accounts and act as a watchdog over their operations.

"Members of the Electoral Commission are solely represented by the government and the Opposition. In an effort to ensure a democratic organ that can streamline all parties, a Commissioner for Ethics should instead be appointed as a watchdog for all parties," the AD spokesman explained.

The White paper also proposed that for the first time ever, political parties, will be obliged to declare and register donations above €10,000, while any donations above €50,000 emanating from the same source will be prohibited.  Donations between €10,000 and €50,000 need to be registered in the party's accounts and these details together with the name and address of the donator and passed on to the Electoral Commission.

Commenting on the proposed thresholds, Chris Said said that proposed thresholds of should be reduced.

"Any donations exceeding €30,000 to the party should be prohibited while any donations between €5,000 and €30,000 should be registered in the party's accounts," Said argued.

He however said the White Paper should not impose a threshold on party's loans.

On his part, the PN Secretary General agreed with Toni Abela that apart from regulating the financing of parties, the white paper should afford smaller parties an equal playing field to participate in Malta's political arena.

"The Nationalist Party agrees with the White Paper on principle, but it will insist on an equal playing field for all political parties," Said underlined.