SPÖ plans millions of election campaign: creativity instead of high budgets!

SPÖ plans millions of election campaign: creativity instead of high budgets!

The SPÖ plans to exhaust the new election campaign cost limit of 5 million euros in order to assert itself with other parties in the coming weeks. This project was put into the spotlight on April 8, 2025 by Peter Sverak, the state manager of the Vienna People's Party. He emphasizes that the SPÖ wants to rely on creativity instead of just relying on a material battle. At the same time, the FPÖ has not yet published any figures on its campaign costs, which ensures speculation in the political arena. According to Sverak, there will be a large scale in advertisements and paid PR campaigns in the next 19 days in order to remain visible in the favor of the voters.

The Vienna People's Party emphasizes that it is possible to be visible in the election campaign even without high budgets. The party goes one step further by calling for a reduction in the election campaign costs. Together with the use of transparent communication, fair competitive conditions are to be created in democracy. Opportunities for all parties should be the same, whereby the content of the elections should convince and inform instead of being dominated by paid advertisements.

The financial basis of election campaigns

In the context of the campaign costs, financing the parties is an important topic. In Germany, parties receive public funds for their campaigns, which is recognized as a state -political task as part of the Federal Constitutional Court. This financing is not only a guarantee for the implementation of election campaigns, but also serves democratic stability. Parties can finance five sources: membership fees, donations, levies, other income and state funds. State financing is capped, the absolute upper limit was 160,519,363 euros in 2016 and is adjusted annually.

The amount of the state grants is linked to election successes and membership fees. In 2017, the total amount of state party financing was around 161.8 million euros. Parties receive 1 euro per voice for the first four million votes, with each additional voice generating only 0.83 euros. For smaller parties that do not set up a state list in elections, additional funds per voter can be released, provided they reach a certain number of votes.

influence of the public

A central point in party financing is transparency. Parties are legally obliged to disclose the origin and use of their financial resources. This is considered important to avoid abuse and inequalities in financial competition. The discussion about the transparency of donations and the preference for certain parties, depending on their financing, remains a controversial topic. The influence of economic -friendly parties that may be preferred are also viewed critically.

Developments with regard to the campaign costs and their caps as well as the associated public financing are not only important for the parties themselves. They are also crucial for the functionality of democracy, since they allow the parties to act as an indispensable intermediary between the population and the state. So far, it remains to be seen how the other parties will react to the challenges in the current election campaign and whether they are able to assert themselves in an environment in an environment.