The centre-right Radical Liberal Party and the right-wing Swiss People’s Party began their campaigns for the October 22 federal elections with the largest budgets.
The Radical Liberal Party has received CHF12.4 million ($13.6 million) in donations to support its candidates this year, while the People’s Party has CHF11.1 million.
The biggest individual donor is Christoph Blocher. The former Swiss cabinet minister donated CHF550,000 to the People’s Party, according to the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) database, which was created to improve the transparency of the financing of political campaigns in Switzerland.
The Swiss Union of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (USAM), the Employers’ Union, the Swiss Peasants’ Union and the Swiss business federation economiesuisse each contributed CHF500,000 to the “Swiss Perspective” campaign for centre-right political candidates this year. The Foundation for Bourgeois Politics (Stiftung für bürgerliche Politik), which is close to the People’s Party, and Carmita Burkard (for the Green Party) donated similar sums.
Meanwhile, the left-wing Social Democratic Party has received CHF6.9 million for its election campaign, followed by the Centre Party (CHF 6.6 million), the Green Party (CHF3.7 million), the Liberal Green Party (CHF2.9 million) and the Protestant Party (CHF1.2 million).
More
More
‘Only a minority try to get around transparency rules’
This content was published on
The financing of Swiss democracy is now more transparent, but more needs to be done, according to the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO).
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Switzerland condemned for deciding to deport gay Iranian
This content was published on
Switzerland violated the prohibition on inhuman treatment by considering that a gay Iranian could be returned to his country.
Gestational diabetes found to increase risk of adult-onset diabetes
This content was published on
A research team from the Lake Geneva region has identified persistent dysfunctions in glucose regulation in women with gestational diabetes. In the long term, this can increase the risk of adult-onset diabetes by up to ten times.
Swiss village must be evacuated by midday on Sunday
This content was published on
The village of Brienz-Brinzauls in eastern Switzerland, which is threatened by a rockfall, must be evacuated by 1pm on Sunday. All residents must leave the village.
This content was published on
A former judge of the Graubünden Administrative Court in eastern Switzerland has been found guilty of rape, sexual harassment and threatening a former trainee.
Costs and care time increase in Swiss retirement and nursing homes
This content was published on
In 2023 the costs of retirement and nursing homes increased by 5% compared to 2022 and those of assistance and care at home by 7%. Together, they amounted to CHF15 billion.
This content was published on
Almost half of the population in Switzerland shows clear to pronounced signs of smartphone addiction, according to a survey.
Swiss healthcare stakeholders want to save CHF300 million
This content was published on
The main players in the Swiss healthcare sector want to save around CHF300 million ($340 million) in healthcare costs a year from 2026.
‘Only a minority try to get around transparency rules’
This content was published on
The financing of Swiss democracy is now more transparent, but more needs to be done, according to the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO).
Campaign funding still a taboo topic in Switzerland
This content was published on
swissinfo.ch sheds light on the tradition of Swiss secrecy on funding of political parties and candidates during elections.
Switzerland criticised over opaque political financing
This content was published on
A top Council of Europe anti-corruption official has called on Switzerland to strengthen laws on transparency in political financing.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.