9836_not-searchable
/en/valg/statistikker/partifin/arkiv
9836
Government funding main source of income
statistikk
2008-09-04T10:00:00.000Z
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, 2007

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Government funding main source of income

Government funding accounted for 72 per cent of the political parties' income in the election year 2007, compared with 76 per cent in 2006. The proportion was highest for the Progress Party and Centre Party, smallest for the Conservative Party and Christian Democratic Party.

Source of income of the political parties. Per cent

Among the 2 887 party organizations (88 per cent of all) that responded within the deadline, three of four reported that they, excluding government subsidies, had an income of below NOK 10 000. Half of the organizations of the Christian Democratic Party reported having an income of more than NOK 10 000, whereas only one in ten of the organizations of the Liberal Party and Socialist Left Party reported likewise. The 720 party organizations that reported having an income of at least NOK 10 000 each, reported to have received NOK 456 million in total, of which government funding accounted for NOK 327.5 million.

The governmental funding was mainly given as political party subsidies from the central government. The party subsidies in 2007 were calculated by using the results of the local elections in 2003 (for municipality and county organizations) and the parliamentary election in 2005 (for main organizations of the political parties). The Labour Party received most governmental funding in real terms in 2007, although the Progress Party had the highest share of government funding with 83 per cent.

Labour organizations and the Labour Party

The NOK 10.7 million that the Labour Party received from labour organizations made up about 7 per cent of the party's total income. Altogether 86 per cent of the party contributions from the labour organizations went to the Labour Party, while 9 per cent went to the Socialist Left Party.

Private donations to Christian Democratic Party

The Christian Democratic Party received NOK 3.8 million from private donations in 2007, which represented 9 per cent of the party's total income. 37 per cent of all private donations were donated to the Christian Democrats. Socialist Left Party and Red received 23 per cent, mainly as party fees paid by elected representatives. The remaining 40 per cent of the total private donations were shared between the other parties.

Income from own activities for the Conservative Party

Capital income (capital gains and dividends) accounted for NOK 10 million or 12 per cent of the Conservative Party's income. The corresponding figures for the Labour Party were NOK 7.8 million and 5 per cent.

Lotteries, bingo, slot machines and fund raisings also made up a substantial part of the income, accounting for NOK 11.6 million or 8 per cent of Labour's income. For the other parties, this source of income varied from 1 to 9 per cent of the total income. The Liberal Party saw the highest proportion, while the Socialist Left Party had the lowest.

Response rate of the political parties

Lower membership fees reported by Centre Party

The Centre Party reported having received NOK 2.9 million or 8.5 per cent of the total income in membership fees in 2007, whereas the membership fees in 2006 accounted for NOK 7.8 million or 24 per cent of the party’s total income. For the other parties in the Norwegian Parliament this source of income represented between 8 and 2 per cent of their total income. For The Liberal People’s Party, which has not reported any government funding, membership fees constituted 39 per cent of the total income.

More detailed figures are published on www.partifinansiering.no

About the data

Pursuant to the Political Party Act, which came into force in 2005, all registered political parties must report their income every year.

The report should give a complete overview of the political party’s income, distributed by source of income. The main sources are government subsidy, income from activities and external donations. The report should also contain a list of major contributors and contributors with which the political party has made a written agreement in political or business matters. Political organizations with less than NOK 10 000 in total income (excluding government subsidies) do not have to report their income.

2006 was the first year with this type of reporting. The statistics presented here are based on reports submitted in 2008. The deadline was 1 July, and 88 per cent of the party organizations submitted their reports by this date. Figure 1 presents the response rate as of 15 August and also shows whether the party organizations had reported income above the NOK 10 000 limit including a breakdown of that income, or whether they had reported their income as below NOK 10 000. The data comprise all registered political parties.

Since this is a relatively new data source , there may be uncertainties in the data . The main uncertainty is about whether the income is reported on the correct source , of whether the income is gross income and whether all the income has been reported . Non - response and exemption due to low income are also sources of uncertainty .

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