9838_not-searchable
/en/valg/statistikker/partifin/arkiv
9838
Government funding main source of income
statistikk
2007-08-20T10:00:00.000Z
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, 2006

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Government funding main source of income

Government funding accounted for three quarters of the political parties' income in 2006, compared with two thirds in the 2005 election year. Contributions from labour organisations, enterprises, organisations and individuals played a minor role in 2006, when no elections were held.

Party organisations which received NOK 10 000 or more in contributions excluding government subsidies in 2006 reported to have received NOK 394.5 million in total, of which government funding accounted for NOK 300 million.

Source of income of the political parties. Per cent

The government funding was mainly given as political party subsidies from central government. The party subsidies in 2006 were calculated based on the results of the local elections in 2003 (for municipality and county organizations) and the Storting election in 2005 (for main organisations of the political parties). The Labour Party received most government funding in real terms in 2006, although the Progress Party had the highest share of government funding with 91 per cent.

Labour organisations and the Labour Party

The NOK 5.4 million that the Labour Party received from labour organisations made up about 4.3 per cent of the party's total income. Altogether 98.5 per cent of party contributions from the labour organisations went to the Labour Party. In the election year 2005, however, 89.5 per cent went to the Labour Party and 10.5 per cent to the Socialist Left Party.

Private donations to Christian Democratic Party

The Christian Democratic Party received NOK 2.5 million from private donations in 2006, which represents 7.1 per cent of the party's total income. 44 per cent of all private donations were donated to the Christian Democrats. In comparison, private donations accounted for 36 per cent of total income for the Socialist Left Party and the Red Electoral Alliance, and the donations were made up of "party fees" paid in by elected representatives.

Response rate of the political parties

Income from own activities for the Conservative Party

Capital income (capital gains and dividends) accounted for NOK 10 million or 14 per cent of the Conservative Party's income. The corresponding figures for the Labour Party were NOK 7.9 million and 6 per cent.

Lotteries, bingo, slot machines and fund raisings also made up a substantial part of the income, accounting for NOK 9.6 million or 7.6 per cent of Labour's income. For the other parties, this source of income varied from 11 per cent for the Pensioners' Party and 8 per cent for the Liberal Party to less than 1 per cent for the Socialist Left Party, the Centre Party and the Red Electoral Alliance.

Membership fees most important for Centre Party

The Centre Party received NOK 7.8 million in membership fees in 2006, accounting for 23.7 per cent of the total income. For the other Storting parties this source of income represented less than 8 per cent of total income. For the Liberal People’s Party, which has not reported any government funding, membership fees constitute 83 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 shall give a complete overview of the political party’s income, distributed by source of income. The main sources are government subsidies, income from activities and contributions from external donations. The report shall 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 organisations 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 and the statistics presented here are based on reports submitted in 2007. The deadline was 1 July, and 80 per cent of the party organisations submitted their reports by this date. Figure 1 presents the response rate as of 12 August and shows whether they 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 except the Communist Party of Norway, as no data has been reported from that party.

Since this is a 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 a source of uncertainty.

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