Only a quarter of Swiss parliamentarians fully disclose their income

Only 27 per cent of parliamentarians fully disclose their income Keystone-SDA

Almost half of Swiss parliamentarians remain silent about their additional income. According to a new report by Lobbywatch, 44% of members of parliament do not declare any income from mandates in companies and associations.

Only 27% disclose all of their additional income, according to the Transparency Report 2025 published by the organisation Lobbywatch on Monday.

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Overall, transparency is thus stagnating at the level of the last survey from the beginning of 2024, according to which 42% of all parliamentarians did not declare any additional income.

In the new report, however, the organisation distinguishes for the first time between total transparency (all income disclosed) and partial transparency (only individual remuneration declared). The new methodology shows that only a minority is really completely transparent, Lobbywatch wrote in a press release on the report.

Greens are becoming less transparent

Among the parliamentary groups, the Green party is the most transparent: 68% of their members disclose all their income. For the Social Democratic party, which follows in second place, the figure is just over half (51%). According to Lobbywatch, the Social Democrats and the Green Liberals have become less transparent.

The right-wing Swiss People’s party, on the other hand, has become more transparent and is on a par with the Centre. The Radical-Liberal party remains at the bottom of the league: not a single member discloses all their income and only one in three declares any part of their remuneration.

Women are more transparent than men

The House of Representatives, with 58% of its members partially transparent, is more willing to provide information than the Senate (48%). The figures for full transparency are low in both chambers.

According to the report, women are also more transparent than men: a third of female parliamentarians disclose all their remuneration, compared to only a quarter of men.

For the report, Lobbywatch asked all parliamentarians to disclose their income in the summer of 2025.

Adapted from German by AI/jdp

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