Third Evaluation Round Second Interim Compliance Report on Cyprus

for auditing purposes, at the latest four months after the election. Concerning election candidates,
section 52 of Law 72/79 provides that candidates’ Electoral Expenses <strong>Report</strong>s, which contain all
income and expenses in the context of the election, are submitted by the electoral representative
of the candidate to the Commissioner within three weeks of the announcement of the election’s
results. The Commissioner then submits the reports to the Auditor General within 15 days of their
receipt. In the event that the Auditor General determines that a candidate has exceeded the
allowed electoral expenses, s/he drafts a report which is sent to the Commissioner, and the latter
is to impose a monetary penalty on the candidate to the amount of the surplus spent. Finally, as
regards the third part of the recommendation, the authorities state that the legislation provides
that the Auditor General is responsible for the auditing of the election candidates’ income and
expenditure, and that under the Constitution, s/he is an independent official of the Republic.
Furthermore, it is recalled that the reports of the Auditor General are made available to the public
and therefore subject to further scrutiny by the press and the public.
32. GRECO takes note of the information provided. Leaving aside the first part of the
recommendation which had already been implemented in the <strong>Compliance</strong> <strong>Report</strong>, GRECO
acknowledges that the election income and expenditure accounts, whether from political parties
or election candidates, are required to be submitted to the Auditor General for auditing purposes,
which is in line with what was required in the second part of the recommendation. As regards the
third part of the recommendation, GRECO acknowledges that the system has been considerably
improved with the involvement of the Office of the Auditor General, which is clearly an
independent body and that its audit reports are open for public scrutiny. Although the maintained
involvement of the Election Commissioner acting as a depository for financial statements,
responsible for identifying at the first control stage possible inaccuracies and for imposing fines
(following the audit) does not appear ideal (e.g. for reasons of lack of independence and slowing
down the process), GRECO is still of the opinion that the involvement of the Auditor General in
this process provides sufficient safeguards for an independent process, which was the aim of the
third part of the recommendation.
33. GRECO concludes that recommendation has been implemented satisfactorily.
Recommendation vi.
34. GRECO recommended that flexible sanctions be introduced for violations of the legislation
concerning the submission of election statements in respect of election candidates.
35. GRECO recalls that this recommendation was partly implemented in the <strong>Second</strong> <strong>Compliance</strong>
<strong>Report</strong> and <strong>Interim</strong> <strong>Compliance</strong> <strong>Report</strong> as Cyprus had in place draft amendments to the Law on
the Election of Members of the House of Representatives (Law 72/79) providing a new set of
administrative penalties which appeared to be more easily applicable in relation to campaign
financing for parliamentary elections. However, the texts were not fully available at the time.
36. The authorities of Cyprus reiterate the information provided in earlier reports and has now
submitted the text of the amended legislation for GRECO to assess. The amended section 52 of
the Law on the Election of Members of the House of Representatives (Law 72/79) adds a
provision, according to which the Commissioner of Elections can impose a pecuniary fine of €500
(plus an additional €50 per day of delay) upon a candidate for not submitting, within the defined
time limits, his/her financial statement on income and expenditure pertaining to the campaign.
Moreover, paragraph 4 of the said section adds that if a candidate or electoral representative fails
to comply with this obligation or with the separate obligation to publish their report of election
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