Presidential election candidates, Nicușor Dan and George Simion, have declared campaign expenses exceeding 68 million lei (approximately 13.6 million euros) for the second round.
Nicușor Dan’s declared income amounts to 40.4 million lei, of which 37.2 million lei are loans and 3.2 million lei are donations, according to a report from Expert Forum sent to Spotmedia.ro on Thursday.
George Simion declared a total of 27.8 million lei: 24.8 million lei from contributions, of which only 54,000 lei are donations, and three million lei from party transfers.
AUR declared on May 14th 3 million lei for loans in cash from individuals and/or legal entities.
How the money was spent
Nicușor Dan spent 40.4 million lei. Of the total, 30% was spent on online services (12 million lei), 37% on radio/TV/press advertising (15.2 million lei), 8% on sociological research (3.3 million lei), and 6% on printed materials (2.5 million).
Other expense categories were allocated 7.2 million lei (18%) - this chapter includes a variety of expenses, including consultancy, volunteer clothing, financial agent services, space rentals, or transportation.
George Simion spent 27.9 million lei. Of the total, 56% was spent on radio/TV/press advertising (15.8 million lei), 33% on online promotion (9.2 million lei), and 3% on printed materials (1 million lei).
Sociological research cost 297,000 lei, and the other category gathered 1.5 million lei, of which 500,000 lei was allocated for the financial agent.
| NICUȘOR – DANIEL DAN | 40,494,264 | |
| radio/TV/press | 15,215,180 | 37.57% |
| online | 12,148,000 | 30.00% |
| other | 7,261,040 | 17.93% |
| sociological research | 3,340,116 | 8.25% |
| printed materials | 2,529,927 | 6.25% |
| GEORGE SIMION | 27,900,308 | |
| radio/TV/press | 15,810,319 | 56.67% |
| online | 9,242,838 | 33.13% |
| other | 1,500,071 | 5.38% |
| printed materials | 1,049,580 | 3.76% |
| sociological research | 297,500 | 1.07% |
Donors are secret
Candidates' contributions for the electoral campaign are declared to the Permanent Electoral Authority by the coordinating financial agent within a maximum of 3 working days from the date of receipt in the notified bank account. Contributions can be deposited only in the bank accounts notified to the Permanent Electoral Authority, only until the end date of the electoral campaign.
Expenses are, in turn, declared within a maximum of three days from their engagement, specifying the value and destination. Electoral expenses must be incurred only during the electoral campaign period for each round of voting.
Even when these data are published, the transparency of the process is limited, notes Expert Forum. We can only see how much money the competitors declared publicly, not who the donor is or the person/entity who provided a loan to the candidate or party. These reports should include the source of income (the donor's name or the person/entity that provided a loan) above certain values.