The regional conference “Money in Politics in the Era of Globalization and Digitalization” which took place on 2-3 July in Chisinau gathered around 110 participants from Armenia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, USA, Romania, Ukraine and France.
The representatives of political finance oversight agencies, political parties, international organisations, civil society monitors engaged dynamic and insightful discussions over the regional trends and practices, aiming at identifying effective solutions and approaches for enhancing transparency, integrity, and accountability in political finance amidst increasing digitalisation and globalisation.
In his opening, Falk LANGE, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau, emphasized the conference timeliness: "This conference comes exactly at the right time – ahead of the Presidential election and EU-related constitutional republican referendum. New trends in how electoral actors spend money on and between electoral campaigns appear almost daily. Additionally, online campaigning helps political parties and other actors lower the costs of voter outreach, allowing them to lead campaigns without being on the radar of public monitoring authorities. This is a recurrent problem characteristic of many elections in Council of Europe member states and beyond."
The conference highlighted several issues linked to the impact of globalization and digitalization on political campaigns and voter outreach such as: the rising role for online and social media in campaigns, as well as the increased use of digital technologies for political funding and monitoring and attempts of foreign influence through the online space. Ms. Veronika Bilkova, vice-president of the Venice Commission, and Mr. Yves-Marie Doublet, GRECO (The Group of States against Corruption) expert, shared their experience on preventing the foreign influence and combatting disinformation during and between electoral periods.
The participants formulated several recommendations for national authorities, political parties, social networks and civil society aimed at promoting more transparent online financing and campaigning, especially ahead the upcoming Autumn Presidential election and EU-related constitutional republican referendum in the Republic of Moldova.
The event was organised within the framework of the Council of Europe Project Improving Electoral Practice in the Republic of Moldova, Phase III, in cooperation with the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.
