Transparency International Latvia has released a new update to the platform “Deputāti uz Delnas”.
The platform now includes a new section called “MP database”, in which users can visualize basic statistics about the MPs currently sitting in the Parliament and, through a “MP grid”, can easily access basic profile information, and data on donations to political organizations and outside interests associated to a specific MP. The information for this new update was taken from the websites of the Saeima and of the Central Electoral Commission.
In addition, TI Latvia also updated the dataset on political financing, which now includes data on private donations, member donations and MPs’ donations for 2020.
Along with the updates to the platform, TI Latvia has published a brochure explaining what “Deputāti uz Delnas” is, its functionalities as well as how it can be used to identify trends and patterns on political financing and MPs’ interest and asset declarations.
Click here to download the brochure (in Latvian language).
Furthermore, the website now includes a button through which users can access the new Integrity Watch Data Hub, developed by Transparency International EU. After signing up (for free), users will be able not only to access all the Integrity Watch tools related to 8 EU countries and 2 EU institutions[i] from a single location, but also to download over 20 datasets related to lobbying, political financing, interest and interest and asset declarations in machine-readable format (Excel and CSV).
These updates mark the end of the project Integrity Watch Europe, which in the past couple of years has seen a major effort from TI Latvia and other TI chapters across the EU to improve the disclosure and accessibility of political integrity-related data and foster their use to increase transparency and accountability of national decision-makers.
While the project is over, TI Latvia will continue to engage with stakeholders in the public and private sector to ensure that the platform is regularly updated and to cooperate for its future development by adding new datasets, visualization tools and other functionalities. To this purpose, we invite all those who wish to participate to send an email to deputatiuzdelnas@delna.lv or ti@delna.lv.
The journey towards more transparency in the link between money and politics in Latvia and Europe has just begun!
[i] France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Spain, Slovenia, European Commission and European Parliament
Watch the video on how to use the tool (in Latvian language):
This project is financed by the European Union Internal Security Fund – Police. The content of the publication reflects only the opinion of the authors. The European Commission does not take any responsibility for the use of the information.
This project is co-financed and supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia
