The UDHPSH supervisory office has so far imposed four fines of between CZK 10,000 and CZK 35,000 on the Civic Democrats (ODS), Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), the Motorists and the extra-parliamentary Vote Right Bloc, in connection with irregularities in the recent Czech general election campaign, the office announced today on its website.
The Office for the Supervision of the Financial Management of Political Parties and Movements (UDHPSH) gave the highest fine of CZK 35,000 to the far-right SPD for not ensuring that election promotional materials contained information about the contracting authority and the processor.
The Motorists were fined CZK 25,000 for using communication media controlled by local municipalities for election campaigning.
SPD and the Motorists are forming the next government with ANO, which won the elections by a wide margin.
ODS, leader of the outgoing government, was also fined CZK 20,000 for not informing about the contracting authority and the processor of election campaign materials.
“We respect the law and the rules for fair campaigning,” ODS spokesman Jakub Skyva told CTK. “In this particular case, there was a failure to identify the sponsor of the political advertisement. We have drawn appropriate consequences from the individual’s misconduct.”
The Vote Right Bloc party must pay CZK 10,000 for failing to meet any of its obligations related to data on election campaign financing, or submit any documents on its bookkeeping.
UDHPSH also found that only half of the 26 entities that submitted a candidate list in the 3-4 October elections published details about their sponsors on their websites.
Failure to disclose sponsors or releasing incomplete information can result in administrative proceedings and fines ranging from CZK 20,000 to 300,000. However, all parties who won representation in parliament complied with the requirement.
UDHPSH will scrutinise parties’ finances in more detail only in the reports on the election campaign financing. The deadline for their submission is within 90 days of the announcement of the election results, which falls at the beginning of next January.
Four years ago, the authority also imposed several fines ranging from CZK 10,000 to 40,000 in connection with the previous parliamentary elections in 2021.
