Party leaders agree on EUR 3,000 limit for individual political contributions in municipal elections

print this

Government and opposition parties in the Finnish Parliament have agreed that in the upcoming municipal elections, a candidate should not accept contributions of more than EUR 3,000 from any single donor.
      Later the upper limit is to be made law. In Parliamentary elections the limit would be EUR 6,000.
      The leaders of the parties in the Finnish Parliament met on Tuesday for discussions lasting two and a half hours, during which they agreed on election finance reform.
      The municipal elections are coming so soon that no legislative changes can be passed in time for them. However, the parties agreed amongst themselves to follow the guidelines even in the absence of actual legislation.
     
After their meeting at Helsinki’s House of the Estates, the party leaders expressed satisfaction with the agreement.
      Opposition Social Democratic Party Chairman Eero Heinäluoma saw the agreement as historic, saying that clear limits are now being placed on the use of money, and that money would not decide the elections.
      Heinäluoma also believes that the decisions will be reflected in the costs of municipal election campaigns, because new legislation is to bring down the threshold for mandatory disclosure of individual donations from the present EUR 1,700 to EUR 1,000.
      In addition, successful candidates will be required to submit itemised lists of campaign expenditures.
      Centre Party Chairman, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, said that the political agreement among the parties will be signed this week.
     
On Friday, a working group of the Ministry of Justice is to be set up, which will be given the task of ascertaining if it is possible to impose sanctions for failure to disclose campaign financing. Experts interviewed by party leaders were sceptical of the possibility.
     
Vanhanen said that legislative change imposing a new limit on campaign donations still depends on interpretations of the constitution. The rules should have limits that are sufficiently unambiguous, and should apply to the recipient of the donations - that is, the candidate.
      Minister of Justice Tuija Brax (Green) says that the most difficult question in the campaign finance working group will be the financing provided by the parties and groups close to them.
      Left Alliance Chairman Martti Korhonen says that the situation became clearer when an agreement was reached on procedures and spending limits applicable to all elections.
      Last week the leaders of all opposition parties demanded that legislation calling for a campaign ceiling should be brought into effect already in the upcoming municipal elections. However, they were forced to admit that there was not enough time for that.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Brax wants monitoring of election campaign funding away from Ministry of Justice (19.5.2008)
  Prime Minister regards election campaign funding mess as serious (19.5.2008)
  Centre Party MP´s comments spark campaign finance row (15.5.2008)
  Vanhanen: Campaign finance law changes possible before municipal election (23.5.2008)
  Prime Minister warns of political crisis stemming from election campaign money affair (21.5.2008)

See also:
  COMMENTARY: Money matters

Helsingin Sanomat