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Since 2012, all elections at the federal level have been subject to a campaign cost limit of seven million euros per party. Concretely, the regulation specifies that between the date and the day of the elections – in 2017, on July 25 and on October 15 – no party can spend more than seven million euros for electoral campaigns.
Up to one year after the elections, party expenses must be verified and communicated to the SR. In case of excess, penalties of 10 to 20% of the excess amount are due. The "Independent Transparency Senate" of the Chancery is responsible for this imposition.
Probable penalty payment
Fines may also be outstanding in this election. The ÖVP told HR today that the National Council election campaign cost just under € 13 million, which cost about € 1.8 million more than the Council elections 2013, said the ÖVP party headquarters at the party headquarters. APA.
"The election campaign of 2017 was an extraordinary election campaign for the new People's Party, but we have spent a lot more than the expected upper limit, of course we will pay the full amount of the fine." said the Secretary General of the ÖVP, Karl Nehammer.
The election will therefore cost the party several hundred thousand euros a million euros fine. According to Nehammer, campaign expenses, in addition to the high level of public service involvement in federal, provincial and political parties, "resulted from the increased need for information resulting from the insufficient election campaign". The ÖVP contrasts with competitors with 100% honesty and transparency, while the alleged costs of the SPÖ's presidential campaign have been hidden in questionable clubs, Nehammer said.
FPÖ refers to cost increases
The coalition partner, the FPÖ, has announced campaign costs of 10.7 million euros. Even the libertarian flourishes from a fine of several hundred thousand euros. The FPÖ Secretary General, Harald Vilimsky, justified this excess by raising the costs of advertising and campaign dynamics. "Since setting the upper limit at the time, advertising costs have increased by more than 30%, which largely explains the spending overruns." In addition, the dynamics of our campaign also resulted in additional costs, "Vilimsky said.
"However, we are not asking for an increase in the upper limit and we will tear our belt even further in the next round of voting and we will tighten our belts.And unlike the SPÖ, we do not have questionable and horrible clubs. Silberstein methods and costs. "
The SPÖ has reported only a minor overshoot
The SPÖ rejected such criticism during the last election campaign. According to the SPÖ party headquarters, the campaign cost ceiling for the last National Council election was only slightly exceeded. € 7,383,429.95 were reported to the HR. The SPÖ is threatened with a fine of the order of five digits.
Vilimsky and Nehammer doubted sending these numbers. "The campaign costs of the SPÖ published today are more than incredible, and independent badyzes show that the SPÖ had to spend well over $ 7.4 million on the election campaign," Nehammer said. The SPÖ had used club constructions. Already during the election campaign, the SPÖ had been criticized for outsourcing costs to the parliamentary club. Here too, we are asking the SPÖ and its new Presidents (Pamela, note) Rendi-Wagner to be totally transparent and honest, "said Nehammer.
Vilimsky said the SPÖ's figures were a "late April fish joke": "It is currently totally unclear how much the SPÖ has hidden at cost price on their various club builds. always filed, which funds flowed to the witch kitchen of the Silberstein Valley, "said Vilimsky.
Drozda rejects the accusations
In the SPÖ, rejected criticisms made against the ruling parties and considered them as a diversion maneuver of the huge cost overruns of the election campaigns of the ÖVP-FPÖ. "The government has spent 25 million euros, which is an all-time record.This brings our democratic system in the direction of the United States," said Thomas Drozda, SPÖ's Federal Director, APA. . But it should be a "competition of the best ideas and not a contest of the best sponsors". "If we organize our democracy according to the golden rule, we have a problem."
NEOS and the mushroom list well below the limit
NEOS and List Pilz, for their part, remained well below the limit. NEOS registered 1,773,967 euros. Beyond this deadline, Pinken has communicated the costs of the campaign in its entirety with an amount of 2,649,195.70 euros. According to the party leader, Maria Stern, the list of costs in campaign would be about 300,000 euros, which would have been communicated to HR. A vote had cost the list € 1.50, and they financed all campaign expenses with donations, said Stern.
NEOS Secretary General Nick Donig criticized the transgression: "It's a slap for taxpayers, in sports you're disqualified for unauthorized doping, in Austrian domestic politics you go to the government. It must be over, "Donig said. The solution would be more drastic sanctions for the pink opposition party, demanding fines equal to 150% of the surplus.
Twelve categories of expenditure
The Political Parties Act regards election expenses as "particularly" (but not exclusively) twelve categories of expenses: posters, direct mail, records, campaign gifts, advertisements and advertisements, advertising and agency fees, staff costs additional and staff committee costs.
Candidates themselves can put up to 15,000 euros in their own election campaign. All that goes beyond that must be attributed to the party. Election costs must be reported to HR with the respective party's statement of account.
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