Court of Audit criticism

Did the Salzburg FPÖ violate party law?

Marlene Svazek(Bild: Markus Tschepp)

The Court of Audit has found violations of the Political Parties Act by the Salzburg FPÖ. A campaign by party leader Marlene Svazek is said to have been improperly paid for by the provincial parliamentary club. 

The auditing body found an unauthorized donation in the "Is it worth it?" campaign with FPÖ provincial party leader Svazek. The Court of Audit (ACA) suspects that this was not information about the work of the provincial party, but general FPÖ advertising measures. In the audit procedure, the FPÖ had pointed out that Svazek was not a member of the National Council and that, for "precautionary reasons", the financing of the campaign had been split 50:50 between the party and the club. The Court of Audit does not share this argument.

For example, the campaign was also about the federal government's coronavirus measures. No connection with the work of the FPÖ's Salzburg state parliamentary club could be identified, meaning that an impermissible donation in the amount of 12,418.06 euros was made. 

The Independent Party Transparency Senate (UPTS) must now decide whether the suspicion of a violation of the Political Parties Act is correct.