Switzerland has long discussed improving transparency in political party financing to increase trust in politics. In 2022, the canton of Schwyz led the way, introducing rules requiring parties to disclose how they finance their election campaigns. This week, the Federal Audit Office issued its first ever report on party finances.
The report shows party revenues at the federal level. In 2023, the Socialist Party generated the highest revenue (CHF 9.0 million), followed by the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP) (CHF 5.9 million), the PLR/FDP (CHF 4.3 million), the Centre (CHF 3.1 million), the Green Party (CHF 2.6 million) and the Green Liberal Party (CHF 1.4 million). All the other parties received less than CHF 1 million.
However, these figures do not show the full picture. They only include membership fees at a national level, donations (above CHF 15,000), receipts from events, the sale of goods and services, and receipts from mandates.
This means much funding is not included. Money collected by party organisations at cantonal and municipal levels is not included. In addition, revenue related to voting campaigns organised directly by parties must be included. Revenue and donations raised for campaigns organised for parties by independent organisations do not have to be disclosed because there is no direct link. For example, the Socialist Party, which initiated the vote to raise pensions was required to include external financial support for the campaign because it organised it directly. However, other parties campaigning against the initiative ran their campaign indirectly, so outside campaign funding did not run through party finances and was therefore not included in party revenues.
Another difference relates to the degree of centralisation of party membership fees. If these are collected nationally they will be included. If not, they will not appear in these figures.
Speaking to SRF upon publication of the report, Pascal Stirnimann, the director of the Federal Audit Office, said that transparency is better than before. But there is still room for improvement.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
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