On November 26, Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) organized a Roundtable Discussion on the topic “Auditing of Political Parties’ Finances in Kosovo: What did they reveal regarding their financial transparency?” held in Prishtina. The aim of this event was to to discuss the long-awaited and delayed findings of the audit of political parties’ financial reports for the period 2018-2020.

At the beginning of the discussion, GLPS noted that the auditor’s results reveal a lack of transparency and accountability. The auditor has denied the opinion on the financial reports of most major political parties in Kosovo. The disclaimer arises because the political parties have not been able to provide the necessary audit evidence to provide a basis for an opinion, which is of a high concern. More precisely, in the financial reports of 2020, out of 18 reports in total, 9 of them were denied the opinion; in the 2019 reports out of 22 reports, 12 of them were denied the opinion; in the reports of 2018 out of 23 reports of political parties 14 of them were denied the opinion. As for the financial reports of the 2019 electoral campaign, out of 16 reports submitted, 6 of them were denied the opinion. This fact continues to be extremely worrying as it reveals the tendency of political parties to hide financial resources.

During the roundtable, Ms. Bajrami from LDK, stressed that the work of the auditor has been voluminous due to lack of auditing for three years in a row. She stressed that if there a regular audit there would be a significant improvement in terms of transparency of political parties, especially regarding the funds that parties receive from the Assembly of Kosovo through the democratization fund. She also added that the auditor’s findings on financial reports are very worrying; on the other hand, she recommended that it would be better for the audit to be conducted by the National Audit Office (NAO).

In the context of this issue, Mr. Lekaj from AAK, stressed that the National Audit Office would be more competent to audit the financial reports of political parties. Regarding the draft law on financing of political parties, Mr. Lekaj stressed that AAKMPs are in favor of amending this law, which would address the issue of transparency of political parties

While Mr. Buleshkaj, from the Central Election Commission, emphasized that the financial reports of political parties are submitted once to the office for registration and certification within the CEC, and then processed to the commission. He added that the findings are worrying and more worrying is the fact of denial of opinion for some political parties.

It was concluded that the audit of the financial reports of political parties should take place every year immediately, as this is an explicit requirement of both the European Union and civil society. In addition, the government should push forward as soon as possible the draft law on financing of political parties, which would solve finally the issue of lack of transparency and accountability of political parties.

Panelists:

Ms. Hykmete BAJRAMI – Chair of the Public Finance Oversight Committee, Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK);

Mr. Pal LEKAJ – Member of the Committee on Budget and Finance, Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK);

Mr. Ylli BULESHKAJ – Office for Registration and Certification of Political Parties, Central Election Commission;

Venue: Hotel Swiss Diamond, Mother Theresa Square, Prishtina, Kosovo.