Electoral authorities warn municipal candidates not to accept money from organized crime

November 4^th, 2015 (ICR News) The president of Costa Rica’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Luis Antonio Sobrado, is warning candidates fighting for office in Costa Rica’s upcoming municipal elections in February to not be tempted to accept political donations from those linked with organized crime.

Sabrado said on Friday that for some candidates and campaigns with limited funding and limited access to campaign financing, the temptation to accept money from organized crime is a very real threat to the local political process.

Authorities however have their work cut out for them in terms of monitoring campaign financing.

More than 30,000 candidates from 63 political parties are fighting for 6,069 elected positions in 81 cantons since the municipal election season kicked off on October 7^th.  Elections are held in February.

The TSE said that it would be monitoring candidates’ and their campaigns’ spending and comparing it with periodic reports that candidates must submit about their campaign revenues in an attempt to find discrepancies and any infiltration of “dirty” money and organized crime.

The TSE said it would also be monitoring both online and offline campaign advertising to ensure that candidates are properly reporting their campaign spending and are not receiving “off the books” financial assistance from organized crime.