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/en/valg/statistikker/partifin/arkiv
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Political parties are funded by the Government
statistikk
2006-09-29T10:00:00.000Z
Elections;Culture and recreation
en
partifin, Political parties' financing, party contributions, government funding, contributions from labour organisations, capital income, private funding, membership feesOrganisations and memberships, Funding of political parties, Elections, Culture and recreation
false

Political parties' financing, 2005

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Political parties are funded by the Government

The political parties received approximately 2/3 of their income from the Government in the election year 2005. Contributions from the labour organizations were also an important source of income for the Labour Party, while the non-socialist parties received their largest external contributions from enterprises within the shipping- and real estate investments industry. Private contributions were a minor source of income for the political parties with only 2 per cent.

The governmental support was mainly given as political party subsidies from the central Government. The party subsidies in 2005 were calculated by using the results of the local elections in 2003 (for the municipality- and county organizations) and the Storting election in 2001 (for main organizations of the political parties). The Labour Party received the most economical support from Government in 2005, but the Governmental support made up the largest share of the Progress Party’s income with 89 per cent.

Political parties, response rate

The labour organizations support the socialists

The Labour Party received approximately 14.4 million kroner from the labour organizations, which made up about 11,7 per cent of its total income. The Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions was the contributor of approximately half of the amount and did also give major contributions to the Socialist Left Party. None of the other parties received major gifts from the labour organizations.

and the shipping- and real estate industry support the non-socialist parties

The non-socialist parties received their largest contributions from enterprises within the shipping- and real estate investments industry. The Conservative Party received more than 5 million kroner from commercial enterprises in 2005, which is 4,4 per cent of their total income.

Private contributions were a minor source of income for the political parties. The share varied among the political parties, and the Liberal Party had the largest share. The private contributions and the contributions from commercial enterprises made approximately 15 per cent of the Liberal Party’s total income. The numbers also show that the Conservative Party received relatively large contributions from few contributors, while the Christian Democratic Party mainly received smaller contributions.

Political parties, income by source

Membership fees most important for the Centre Party

Membership fees were an important source of income for the Centre Party (25 per cent) and for the Christian Democratic Party (10,4 per cent), as well as for the political parties that do not receive any economical support from the Government. Membership fees amounted to less than 6 per cent of the total income for other political parties. The large numbers on capital income for the Conservative Party is due to high capital income reported by their organization in Oslo.

About the data

With the new law regarding political parties, which was approved in June 2005, all registered political parties are instructed to report their income every year.

The report shall give a complete overview of the political party’s income, distributed on the source of the income. The main groups of sources are government subsidy, income from own businesses and contributions from external contributors. The reports shall also contain a list of major contributors and contributors with which the political party has made a written agreement on political or business matters. The political organizations with less than 10 000 kroner in total income, not counting the government subsidies, do not have to report their income.

2006 was the first year that the political parties would have to report their income according to the new law and these reports are used to make this statistics.

Since this is a new data source, there may be uncertainties in the quality. The main uncertainty is about whether the income is reported on the correct source, the income is gross income as the law requires and all income has been reported. In addition, lack of answers and declarations of exemption due to low income make the numbers uncertain for several parties.

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