This report is “relating to the audit of the accounts of political parties and the verification of the sincerity of their expenditure under public support for the year 2022, granted by the State for the contribution to covering their costs of management and organization of their ordinary national congresses, and additional annual support, granted between September and November of the year 2022, to cover expenses linked to studies, missions and research”, indicates the Court of Auditors, in a press release.
The document was drawn up in two parts, after the implementation of the contradictory procedure with the political parties concerned by the observations noted by the Court, underlines the same source.
The first part presents the general results of the audit and examination of resources and expenditure, including the parties’ own resources, the monitoring of the situation of restitution of unjustified public support and the amounts remaining to be returned to the Treasury, as well as the evaluation of their financial and accounting management. It also covers the results of auditing accounts and verifying the sincerity of expenditure under public support in its entirety, including additional annual support for covering expenditure linked to studies, missions and research (titles 1 and 2).
Exceptionally, the report devotes a title to the results of the examination of the additional support granted by the State to political parties for the first time during the last quarter of 2022 (title 3).
As for the second part of the report, it presents the results of the audit of the account of each political party having produced its account to the Court for the year 2022.
Concerning the overall resources of the parties having produced their accounts (29 parties out of 34), they reached an amount of 152.97 MDH, distributed between the support granted by the State up to 53% (81.17 MDH) and their own resources up to 47% (71.79 MDH), thus recording a decrease of 22%, attributed to the drop in membership fees and contributions from supporters, compared to 2021 (92.60 MDH), the year in which the elections were organized electoral.
The Court of Auditors further indicates that public support recorded an increase of 38% compared to 2021 (58.81 MDH excluding State participation in the financing of electoral campaigns), adding that it is distributes between “the annual support for the contribution to covering the management costs of 18 parties (73.92%), the additional annual support for the coverage of costs linked to missions, studies and research granted to seven (07) parties ( 24.76%), the contribution to covering the costs of organizing ordinary national congresses of three parties (1.04%), in addition to the support granted to one (01) party for the encouragement of the political representativeness of women (0.28%).
On the other hand, 16 parties, having not fulfilled one or more of the legally required conditions, were not able to benefit from annual support for the contribution to cover their management costs.
Regarding the expenses declared by the 29 parties that produced their annual accounts, they amounted to 130.65 MDH, compared to 123.37 MDH in 2021 (excluding electoral expenses). They are distributed between expenses linked to management costs (69%), the organization of ordinary national congresses (15%), missions, studies and research (11%), and the acquisition of fixed assets (5 %).
Concerning the restitution to the Treasury of the amounts of unjustified public support, the Court notes the efforts made by the political parties at this level and underlines, in this regard, that 22 political groups have returned, until February 28, 2024, an amount of 37.48 MDH, distributed between the support granted as the State’s contribution to the financing of electoral campaigns (32.35 MDH), to cover management costs (1.78 MDH) and expenses linked to missions, studies and research (3.35 MDH).
Said amounts were collected during the years 2021 (7.53 MDH), 2022 (19 MDH), 2023 (8.06 MDH) and 2024 (2.89 MDH by a political party).
However, until February 28, 2024, the amount remaining to be returned to the Treasury by 18 parties was set by the Court at 26.31 MDH, distributed between undue support (839,813.09 DH), unused or used for purposes other than those for which it was granted (7.58 MDH), or expenses not supported by the supporting documents provided for by the laws and regulations in force (17.90 MDH).
In terms of production of annual accounts, 29 parties out of 34 produced their accounts, including 26 through the electronic platform set up by the Court for this purpose to make it easier for parties to submit accounts. In this regard, 21 parties respected the legal deadline for producing accounts, compared to eight (8) parties who missed the deadline. On the other hand, five parties did not produce their accounts to the Court.
The Court also noted that 25 out of 29 parties produced accounts certified by accountants, including 20 accounts certified without reservation and five accounts certified with reservation, compared to 28 parties in 2021. However, four parties produced their annual accounts in the absence of the accountant’s report.
Concerning the support of expenses by legal supporting documents, the Court noted insufficiencies in the justification of 26% of declared expenses, of which 14% concerns expenses relating to management costs and 12% in connection with those relating to additional annual support to cover expenses linked to studies, missions and research.
The total amount of expenses relating to management costs which were the subject of observations by the Court amounts to 18.71 MDH, out of 130.65 MDH, or more than 14% of the total amount of expenses declared by the all parties in 2022, which denotes a significant increase compared to the year 2021 (4%).
These expenses concerned 24 parties out of 29, and are made up of expenses not supported by the supporting documents provided for by legislative and regulatory texts (13%) and expenses supported by insufficient supporting documents or by documents not labeled in the name of the party. policy concerned (1%).
This situation is mainly due to the non-production of certain supporting documents provided for in the nomenclature of supporting documents for political party expenses, especially following the change it has experienced since October 7, 2021, particularly in terms of justification of salaries and various allowances, as well as expenses relating to the rental of their headquarters.
Regarding the use of the additional annual support granted to seven (07) parties upon their request to cover expenses linked to studies, missions and research (20.10 MDH), and following the observations addressed by the Court to the representatives legal of political parties, four parties returned a total amount of 3.35 MDH, or 17% of the overall amount of additional annual support for 2022, distributed between two parties having returned part of the support (597,122.68 DH) and two others having returned the entire support granted to them (2.75 MDH), following its non-employment before the end of 2022.
Also, the Court raised inadequacies in terms of justification of the expenses declared by five (05), in the amount of 15.64 MDH, or 12% of the overall expenses (130.65 MDH).
It should be noted that in the event of failure to use the amounts committed under the contracts and agreements concluded within the framework of the additional annual support of 2022 for the purposes for which it was granted, the said amounts will be added to the amounts of unused support to be returned to the Treasury, the press release continued.
The Court also issued several recommendations aimed at improving the regulatory framework governing additional annual support for covering expenses linked to studies, missions and research.
Having regard to the observations raised and with a view to improving the quality of the financial and accounting management of political parties, the Court issued recommendations intended for the parties and the government authorities concerned.
The audit report, as well as its summaries in Arabic and French, can be downloaded from the Court of Auditors website: “www.courdescomptes.ma”.