Financial injection for the election campaign – windfall for the Greens: heiress donates one million francs – news

2023-07-02 13:00:09

There are only a few months left until the federal elections: the hot phase of the autumn elections is imminent. An election that, according to their party president Balthasar Glättli, “is the most important” for the Greens, as he told SRF.

In the fight for votes, you not only need good candidates and a convincing party program, but above all: money. The Greens are now receiving a lot of money – a large donation of one million Swiss francs.

Legend: Can look forward to a windfall for the important election campaign: Green President Balthasar Glättli. Keystone/CHRISTIAN MERZ (archive image)

The money to the Greens comes from Carmita Burkard Kroeber. She is an heiress to the founding family of the building materials group Sika and has been a member of the party for over 20 years. According to the Greens, she has already run for the party at regional level.

Campaign budget now twice as big

For the Greens it is a real windfall. With the largest single donation in the history of the party, the campaign budget doubled in one fell swoop.

“It was a Christmas present, although it wasn’t confirmed until after Christmas. It enables us Greens to invest more in areas where we would otherwise not invest.” Specifically, the party wants to use the money gift to finance a mobilization app to promote the commitment of members. It should also make it possible to collect signatures more quickly.

Politics cannot be bought. But it is perfectly acceptable for those who have a lot of money to make large donations and those who have little to make small donations.

Does the large monetary gift from an individual still raise the question: Can the Greens be bought? Green President Balthasar Glättli vehemently disagrees: “Politics must not be for sale. But it may well be the case that those who have a lot of money also make large donations and those who have little donate small ones.”

On the subject of transparency

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The Greens have been disclosing donations of CHF 10,000 or more for years. With the new transparency rules in terms of party financing, the origin of the money would have become known anyway.

According to the announcement, the donor has no influence on the use of the money. However, Glättli tells SRF that the only condition is that the money must be used for the 2023 elections.