Report on the oversight of political party funding 2020

As a rule, the parties represented in Parliament and their district organisations and women's organisations comply well with the funding regulations. However, statutory disclosures have not been filed on all contributions to the organisations. After the audits, a significant number of retroactive disclosures have been filed, which has improved the transparency of political party funding.

Each year, the National Audit Office of Finland (NAOF) audits political party funding and the government subsidies granted to political parties, i.e. party subsidies. In 2020, the NAOF audited the political party funding of all political parties represented in Parliament and certain district organisations and women’s organisations receiving party subsidies. The NAOF conducted a total of 49 audits. The NAOF also oversaw the government subsidies granted for political activities, i.e. so-called party subsidies, by examining the agreement and accounting procedures related to them.

As a rule, parties comply well with the funding legislation. However, when auditing particularly district organisations and women’s organisations, the NAOF found numerous considerations on which no statutory disclosures had been filed. Examples of these included various contributions related to the 2019 parliamentary elections. After the audits, political parties and organisations have filed disclosures on many contributions they have received over several years. This has improved the transparency of political party funding.

The NAOF examined the overseen entities’ political party funding and accounting for a maximum period of 2015–2020. As in previous years, there is still room for improvement in the accounting of the overseen entities and in the work of their certified auditors.

The audits of political party funding will continue in autumn 2021. The NAOF strives to further shorten the audit interval in order to improve the transparency of funding information and to keep it up to date.

The Government has set up a parliamentary election working group for the term of 20 February 2020 to 31 May 2021. The purpose of the parliamentary working group is to examine the need to amend the Election Act, the Act on Political Parties, the Act on a Candidate’s Election Funding, and, if necessary, legislation on other political activities, and to propose any necessary amendments.

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URN:NBN: VTV-R22021vp