Political parties to get €12.7 million boost

Political parties will this week get their hands on a €12.7 million cash injection from the state, a boost to help them with campaign expenses for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The funds are the regular annual state grant given to the parties. They are paid to the parliament’s treasury, which then distributes the cash to each political party with seats in the House of Representatives.

Of the €12.7 million this year, €6.7 million is paid directly to the parties. Fifteen per cent of the €6.7 million is distributed equally, while the rest is distributed proportionally – according to the percentage of the popular vote the parties garnered in the last legislative elections of 2021.

Disy and Akel stand to receive the biggest amounts – €1.98 million and €1.62 million, respectively. They are followed by Diko with €890,000; Elam €591,000; Edek €587,000; Dipa €546,000; and the Greens €434,000.

In addition, around €300,000 will get allocated to the youth branches of the parliamentary parties.

Another €50,000 will cover the parties’ contributions to the political groupings they belong to in the European Union.

Also, €100,000 goes to the parties for actions undertaken overseas promoting the official positions of the Republic vis a vis the Cyprus problem. Here, according to Politis, a peculiarity arises as the parties do not have to furnish documentation on how they spend these funds.

Over and above the €6.7 million, another €5.6 million will cover the employment and benefits of ‘parliamentary assistants’ for the parties and MPs.

Currently there are 100 such assistants. A bill proposes to increase their number to 115.

By law, parliamentary parties must submit audited accounts documenting how they spent the annual state grant, and do so within ten months of the expiry of the financial year for which the funds were given.

Amid all this, parties continue to owe the state some €2.1 million in unused cash they had received for the 2018 presidential election campaign.

During presidential election years, the parties get additional funds.

In 2018, the state allocated the parties an extra €2.6 million for the presidential elections. However, most of parties’ expenses for the election campaign were covered through private donations to the candidates.

Because of this, the parties ended up tapping just €500,000 of the €2.6 million. But they kept the rest, and to this day have refused to return the cash – despite a legal opinion from the deputy attorney-general stating that they must.

To date, the attorney-general’s office has filed no civil lawsuits against the parties for their failure to return the €2.1 million.