Speaking at a press conference in Velika Gorica, just south of Zagreb, on Thursday, TIH officials called on all participants to abide by a codex which provides for the disclosure of all expenses incurred during an election campaign and registration of every donor that has given in excess of 500 kuna (slightly less than 70 euros).
TIH warned that funds from public or state-owned companies should not be used in election campaigns, and that participants should not use donations from foreign companies, religious communities, trade unions or employers' organisations.
"A transparent statement of receipts and expenses of political parties is in the interests of all participants in the political competition," TIH President Zorislav Antun Petrovic said, stressing that this would eliminate speculation about suspicious sources of funding.
Petrovic urged the parliamentary parties to send such statements for last year.
To date, TIH has received statements from the People's Party (HNS), the Social Liberal Party (HSLS), the Peasant Party (HSS), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Democratic Centre (DC).
According to TIH, the 15 parliamentary parties received 69 million kuna (9.45 million euros) in 2004.
According to the results of the TI Global Corruption Barometer for 2005, Croatian citizens see political parties as hardest affected by corruption after the judiciary. On a scale of 1 (corruption-free) to 5 (highly corrupt), respondents gave the Croatian political parties a rating of 4. In a survey conducted the year before, the political parties scored a rating of 3.6.