City Elections: 20 Political Parties Held Accountable in the City, Only One did Things Right
<p style="text-align:justify">There were parties that did not deliver the surrender of campaign spending, three did so with delays and only one, the Citizens Alliance Front, received no comments. South project was 94.95% of irregularities and PRO, 70.10%. The data comes from a report of AGCBA, where also it is said that during the period vetoed "several government advertisements were issued".</p>
As noted by the Audit of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) only one of the 20 political parties and alliances participating in elections this year for head of city government, carried out its campaign spending without irregularities. This is the Alianza Frente de los Ciudadanos, whose formula was composed by attorney Luis Enrique and Jose Piragini Ferrari.
In its report, adopted in November this year, the AGCBA said, "neither the Movimiento Federal de los Jubilados and the Partido para la Cultura and Desarrollo Social made a presentation of campaign expenses." In turn, it noted that the statements of expenditure presented by the Propuesta Republicana (PRO) Alliance were observed in 70.10%, while the Frente Para la Victoria it was at 29.49% and Proyecto Sur in 94.95% one.
The work arises from Act No. 268 of Regulation and Financing Electoral Campaigns, which states that the audit of the City is responsible for "controlling earnings reports or election expenses incurred by political parties as a result of their participation in the elections Chief and Deputy Chief of Government of Buenos Aires ".
As shown in the table below, the party that had higher incomes and expenses was led by Mauricio Macri, with nearly $ 9.5 million for each concept. The force that had the lowest budget for the campaign was the Movimiento de Integracion y Desarrollo (MID), with close to $ 100,000 amount.
Following the submission of expenditures, the AGCBA said that "there were three parties submitted their reports with delay", i.e. that exceeded within ten days before the holding of elections to do so. They are: The Union Civica Radical (UCR), which took five days; the Partido de Acción Ciudadana, which was delayed two; and the Partido Alernativa Social, which sent its reports to the Audit of the City with a delay of "18 days."
The locals auditors found that there were six cases, including that of force headed by former referee Javier Castrilli, in which "expenses reported by the parties have been lower than the public contribution received, registering remaining amounts". Which means, in other words they had sums unused. In this regard, the watchdog said that "because it is public funds (with specific allocation and surrender charge) should intimar the party that did not use all public input received" to return the difference.
The report argues that "the use of a special bank account, and fulfillment through it of all transactions related to the campaign, is one of the main tools for controlling income and expenses". However, the audit noted "a significant level of non-compliance with this requirement." In fact, in the elections for mayor of Buenos Aires 2011, there were only four cases where this regulation was fulfilled. In the other parties, "the account was not used or was partially" as the Coalición Cívica, Proyecto Sur and the UCR. In relation to the latter force, "payments made by unofficial accounts" were also detected.
Electoral Propagandas
Article 4 of Law No. 268 provides that "the graphic propaganda that candidates use during the election campaign must, without exception, identify where it was printed. "However, when the audit carried out the photographic survey of ads on public roads detected" the total or partial breach twelve political forces," including the Frente para la Victoria, the PRO, the Coalición Cívica and Proyecto Sur.
In turn, both Article 3 of the law in question as the end of Article 61 of the City Charter provides that during the election campaign and until the end of the elections, "the City government cannot make institutional propaganda as in persuading the vote." Anyway, it detailed in the report that during the banned period "were issued several advertisements of the Government", among which stand Emerging City, Metrobus, Cultural Agenda, Copa America, Elections Municipalities and Metropolitan Police, among others.