Nationalist Party MP Francis Zammit Dimech said that the government could eventually adopt the Private Member’s Bill drafted by chairman of the Select Committee on the Re-codification and Consolidation of Laws Franco Debono although, at present, the Bill did not reflect the government’s position on party financial reporting requirements.

Dr Zammit Dimech was reacting to a direct question by the president of the Labour Party, Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, during a meeting of the Select Committee, which was discussing the consolidation of electoral laws, political parties and party financing legislation.

Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi said that the PL had made it clear it wanted transparency, while one had to be cautious that the Bill would not defeat its purpose through draconian situations which the regulator could not control.

PN secretary Paul Borg Olivier said that independent candidates would not be regulated under the party funding law.

Committee chairman Franco Debono admitted this was a vacuum in the General Elections Act.

Lawyer Adrian Delia said the General Elections Act regulated spending by all candidates.

He added that there were other laws that regulated fundraising to independent candidates.

This included candidates who had the support of non-political groups such as band and football clubs in local or European Parliament elections.

Earlier, Alternattiva Demokratika representative Carmel Caccopardo objected to the reporting of party funding to the Electoral Commission.

He said he had no faith in the commission because it was nominated by the two political parties represented in parliament. He preferred regulation under an officer appointed by Parliament on the same lines as the Ombudsman or the Auditor General.

He said the purpose of the Bill should be political funding and not funding of political parties only. The Bill, he said, introduced unnecessary over-regulation.

Former PL General Secretary Jimmy Magro said that the Bill was unclear in its distinction between political parties and individual candidates.

It was unnecessary to include too many details on what constituted a political party.

Dr Debono remarked that Greco, the Council of Europe Committee that oversees party funding legislation, did not accept the proposal distinguishing between donations made by party and non-party members.

The Committee insisted that this could be used to bypass control. Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi said that one had to be careful not to burden political parties with extra administrative costs through extensive funding reporting.

He insisted that since the electoral system was based on the single transferrable vote, individual candidates had to make their own funding reports to the commission.

Dr Debono said candidates and committees must be obliged to report donations; otherwise people would try to avoid party funding.

Mr Magro said that some candidates were given donations in the form of government consultancies or contracts. These should be listed in a register.

Concluding the debate, Dr Debono said that there was agreement on the structure of the Bill, which provided a good base for discussion.

This could lead to a final draft even if it could be different from the one discussed in committee.

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