The United Nations University - Operating Unit on Policy-driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV) Senior Analyst, Eliane Torres, was invited to contribute to the 2025 Regional Conference on Money in Politics, held under the theme “Money, Security & Democracy: Defending Electoral Integrity in the Digital Age”, from 8 to 9 July in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova.
The event brought together electoral management bodies (EMBs), financial regulators, civil society actors, and international organizations to identify coordinated responses to the increasing risks of illicit political financing and threats to democratic institutions across Eastern Europe and beyond.
Eliane Torres, in her capacity as Senior Analyst for Partnerships and Programme Development at UNU-EGOV, joined the panel session titled “Banks, Regulators, and Electoral Bodies - Building a Regional Shield Against Illicit Funding”, on the second day of the conference. The session focused on strengthening collaboration between EMBs, financial intelligence units, and banking institutions to enhance the detection and prevention of illicit political financing.
In her intervention, Eliane presented a comprehensive and coordinated approach to political finance regulation, especially in light of emerging risks associated with digital platforms and non-traditional financial channels. She emphasized that legal ambiguities, weak enforcement mechanisms, and limited institutional capacity continue to undermine effective oversight. Addressing these gaps requires closer collaboration between EMBs, financial intelligence units, banking institutions, and digital platforms. She pointed to the value of formal cooperation procedures, risk-based supervision approaches, and comprehensive access to digital payment records, including through the oversight of non-banking financial channels such as cryptocurrencies. She concluded by recommending a shift “from cooperation by goodwill to cooperation by design” as a path to enhance transparency and safeguard electoral integrity in the digital age.
The conference was hosted by the Central Electoral Commission of Moldova in partnership with International IDEA, UNDP, the Council of Europe, IFES, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, and the International Republican Institute.
