Money for small parties too

FPÖ now almost doubles its income

Tyrolean FPÖ election party(Bild: Johanna Birbaumer)

Following the defeat in the National Council elections, party funding is now being restructured. The FPÖ in particular can be pleased - its funding has almost doubled. The ÖVP and the Greens, on the other hand, are losing money. The small parties KPÖ and Bierpartei will receive one-off funding.

According to ORF journalist Martin Thür, the FPÖ will receive the most funding with 11,300,507 euros, followed by the ÖVP (10,344,778 euros). The SPÖ is in third place with 8,341,738 euros, while the NEOS have just overtaken the Greens (3,785,155 and 3,457,209 euros respectively).

"Then there are numerous other pots for the parties. The KPÖ will receive a one-off sum of 364,036.10 euros, the Bierpartei 302,467 euros," wrote Thür on Platform X on Monday morning.

You can see Martin Thür's tweet here.

Money earmarked for a specific purpose
This means that the two small parties will receive money back from the state, even though they have not reached the four percent threshold to enter the National Council. The only requirement is that the parties must have achieved at least one percent of the votes, explained Thür. This is a one-off payment of 3.10 euros per voter.

In contrast to the club funding, the parties are not bound by anything when using the money. "Political work. That can be a lot," said Thür when asked. In any case, individuals cannot receive the funding.

Displeasure: "Completely insane"
This breakdown caused displeasure among many users on X on Monday. "It's absolutely crazy what's going on in this country," commented someone, for example. Another user called for minimum standards. "No party should be allowed to run without a program that has been defended like a doctoral thesis," reads a side swipe at the Beer Party.

The "Wlazny und Sohn company" was "highly profitable", wrote another user. One user questioned whether the amount of funding actually corresponded to the election campaign costs. According to the beer party, for example, it only put up nine triangular stands across Austria, did not put up any large posters or run any major campaigns.