Political organisations can be financed not only from the state budget funds, but also from other sources, including the income of individuals. In order to find out what changes have been observed in attracting the private funding of political organisations, KNAB has analysed donations, one-time joining fees and membership fees paid to 68 political parties and their associations within the period from 2019 to 2022. Four different elections were held during this period.
KNAB points out that all donations made by individuals are publicly available in KNAB’s financial database of political parties from the very first cent donated. In turn, members’ one-time joining fees and membership fees are only made public if the total amount paid by one person in a calendar year exceeds one minimum monthly salary. The analysis of membership fees shows that, on average, only almost a third of active political organisations have received joining fees and membership fees above the minimum monthly salary in a year. During the period analysed by KNAB, individuals paid slightly more than EUR 600 thousand in membership fees to a total of 23 political organisations.
Given that the publication restriction is linked to the minimum monthly salary, which is on an upward trend, the public’s access to the list of members who have paid small amounts of membership fees is reduced. In KNAB’s view, there should be a discussion on whether to revise the procedures for publishing membership fees and joining fees, for example, by refusing from the link to the minimum monthly salary and setting a specific amount from which these contributions would be publicly available.
The analysis carried out by KNAB also shows that the largest increase in private funding for political organisations is observed just before the elections to the Saeima or local governments, and it is mostly made up of donations or gifts from individuals. This shows that political organisations attract more private funding when it comes to pre-election campaign activities. Political organisations received a total of almost EUR 6 million in donations from individuals during the period analysed.
In addition, KNAB points out that the public has limited access to information on the purposes for which political organisations spend their private funding. KNAB therefore calls on political organisations to communicate more actively with donors and members, explaining how and for what purposes private funding is used.