What types of sanctions can be imposed for campaign finance infractions?

Basic Law on Elections and Referendums

Title IV - Period of Elections and Period ofReferendum

Chapter 2: Finance of Electoral Campaigns

Section 3: Oversight of Campaign Funding

Article 89

The Authority monitors, throughout the campaign, theadherence of candidate lists, candidates or parties to the rules and methods ofelectoral campaign or referendum campaign funding, and enforces these rules andmethods in cooperation with public bodies including the Central Bank, the Courtof Accounts and the Ministry of Finance.

Article 91

The Court of Accounts executes its oversight of therevenues and expenses allocated to the campaign of each candidate list,candidate or party; ensures adherence to the singularity of the account; andexecutes its oversight of the revenues and expenses of the single bank account.

Section 4: Financial and Electoral Violations

Article 98

If the financial statement of a list, a candidate or aparty is not deposited, the Court of Accounts will notify the violator todeposit it within thirty days. If the financial statement is not depositedwithin this period, the Court of Accounts penalizes the violator with a fine equal to twenty fivetimes the value of the ceiling for spending.

If the Court of Accounts decides to reject thefinancial statement of a list, a candidate or a party that has not exceeded theceiling of expenditures, it is to penalize it with a fine equal to 10% of theceiling for spending.

In the case of exceeding the ceiling for electoralspending in a constituency, the Court of Accounts is to impose the followingpenalties to the list, candidate or party:

- A financial penalty equal to the amount in excess ofthe ceiling, if the excess is within 10%;

- A financial penalty equal to ten times the amount inexcess of the ceiling, if the excess is between 10% and 30%;

- A financial penalty equal to twenty times the amountin excess, if the excess is between 30% and 75%;

- A financial penalty equal to twenty five times theamount in excess, if the excess is over 75%;

If the financial statement is not deposited accordingto the first paragraph of this article, or if the ceiling for spending isexceeded by more than 75%, the Court of Accounts is to order the annulment of the membership of everymember of the Assembly of Representatives of the People who ran on one of theselists.

The rulings of the Court are issued as rulings offirst instance and may be appealedaccording to the procedures provided for in the Law on the Court of Accounts.

Article 99

The Court of Accounts is to impose a financial penaltythat ranges between five hundred Dinars to two thousand and five hundred Dinarson candidates, candidate lists or political parties that disrupt the work ofthe Court by being late in providing the documents required for the Court todischarge its oversight functions.

The Court may also impose a fine ranging between onethousand and five thousand Dinars on candidates, candidate lists or politicalparties that violate the provisions of Articles 78, and 84 to 86 of this Law.

The rulings of the Court are issued as rulings offirst instance and may be appealed according to the procedures provided for inthe Law on the Court of Accounts.

Article 100

The financial penalties specified in this subsectionare to be imposed on the relevant political party if the punishable violationis committed by that political party, and imposed with joint liability on themembers of a candidate list if the punishable violation was committed by thatcandidate list.

Article 143

The Authority is to ensure the adherence of thewinners to the provisions on the period of elections and campaign funding. TheAuthority may decide to cancel the results of the winners, if it finds thattheir violation of these provisions has affected the results of the electionsin a fundamental and decisive way. In this context, decision of cancellation ofresults must be reasoned. In this case, the results of the legislativeelections are to be recalculated without taking into consideration the list orcandidate whose results were cancelled. With regard to presidential elections,the action taken is limited to the rearrangement of candidates withoutrecalculating results.