President Halonen surprised at scale of election support
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President Tarja Halonen, who was reached during her trip to Sochi, Russia, to meet President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, commented that the recent controversy over election campaign financing has had an impact on the political credibility of Finland.
According to Halonen, it came as no surprise to her that Finnish companies and associations support election campaigns, but the considerable scale of the political support was new to her.
”It is all well and good to give donations for election campaigns, but not for all of them. If they are too close to the goals of the businesses, they no longer have anything to do with supporting the direction or movement represented by the political parties”, Halonen noted.
Halonen added that now it is time to discuss what political support really means and what the prerequisites for such support are.
”I think that we have now learned our lesson. Perhaps the guidelines concerning campaign financing will be clarified before the next elections”, Halonen concluded.
More on this subject:
 Big parties downplay impact of possible ban on donations by state-owned companies
Listed companies' cash support for parties is money from shareholders' pockets
Complaints filed with Chancellor of Justice with regard to election contributions
Helsingin Sanomat
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