The Sumar group proposes that donations made to election campaigns through microcredits, if waived by their lenders, would be considered donations to political parties in accordance with current regulations. In order to ensure legal certainty and transparency in these operations, the initiative also proposes that the withdrawal be formalized preferably through telematics channels and registered as a donation for all purposes. As Europa Press reports, Sumar’s proposal will be voted on in the Joint Commission (Congress-Senate) for relations with the Court of Auditors as part of the debate on electoral accounting audit reports for the 2023 parliamentary elections and the 2024 European elections.
The Plurinational Formation, a minority member of the current coalition government, registered these measures in response to the recommendations contained in the documents of the Court of Audit led by Enriqueta Chicano. As published by Europa Press, Sumar argues for the need to regulate the microcredits that parties use to finance their election campaigns, by setting a maximum limit on the funds borrowed per person and setting repayment within a period not exceeding one year after the elections. According to the group, the aim of this regulation is to avoid possible irregularities, strengthen accountability and prevent the maximum limits for private contributions of 50,000 euros per year currently set in electoral law from being exceeded.
Sumar states in his initiative that the future regulations stipulate that microcredits can only be deposited into official electoral bank accounts, which favors the control and monitoring of the funds. The group also emphasizes the importance of ensuring that the repayment period for these loans does not exceed twelve months from the relevant election day. The formalization of the refund waiver would, as suggested by Sumar, preferably be done electronically, which would allow greater agility and traceability of the process, with the aim that these amounts can be considered as full donations and subject to the established controls and limits.
The Europa Press medium detailed that these proposals are embedded in a broader context in which both Sumar and the Popular Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) agree on the need to review the legal framework for electoral microcredits. The three parties agree that they are calling for a reform of the party financing law that clarifies the purpose and treatment of private donations during the election period. Sumar is committed to ensuring that these donations are identified and managed through bank accounts opened specifically for this purpose and that they comply with the transparency and oversight requirements set out in the electoral law.
According to the information collected by Europa Press, Sumar’s proposal organically incorporates the recommendations of the Court of Auditors in its recent audit reports on the financing of political parties in the electoral processes of 2023 and 2024. These reports propose strengthening the control mechanisms on private donations and call for an update of the current legal architecture to adapt it to the new methods of fundraising, in particular microcredit from individuals.
The audit carried out by the panel chaired by Chicano notes a development in the financing strategies of the parties, in which microcredit represents a growing tool for raising resources for campaigns, which requires precise regulation, limits on amounts, clarification of repayment periods and guarantees that the funds are received in an identified and transparent manner. Within this framework and based on institutional recommendations, Sumar recommends that the regulations explicitly regulate the receipt, return and final destination of these funds and consider the express waiver of return as a formal donation.
The measures proposed by Sumar and other parties will be the subject of debates and votes in the Joint Commission for Relations with the Court of Auditors, the body responsible for monitoring the correct application and improvement of electoral accounting audits and promoting reforms when the monitoring reports identify opaque practices, legal gaps or the lack of sufficient guarantees.
Thus, based on what Europa Press has said, the current political discussion reflects the overarching interest of parliamentary forces to ensure that election financing is neither a loophole to circumvent legal restrictions nor a channel for opaque donations, especially given the use of instruments such as microcredit. The regulatory reform proposed by Sumar, which agrees in some aspects with the positions of the PP and the PSOE, aims to homogenize the treatment of these private funds and ensure their identification and control by regulators, in line with the recent recommendations of the Court of Auditors.
About The Author
