The rightwing Swiss People’s Party as well as the main centre-right parties have the biggest financial means available for campaigns ahead of elections and nationwide votes.
A report, commissioned by the justice ministry, found that the business community plays a key part in publicity campaigns, indirectly benefiting the Christian Democrats and the Radicals.
The People’s Party is clearly ahead of any other party when it comes to election campaign funds, according to the study by Zurich University.
However, Michael Herrmann, author of the report, cautions that money alone cannot guarantee success.
He adds that a number of rightwing initiatives attracted support because the political opponents did not mount counter campaigns.
The justice ministry says the results of the report, published on Tuesday, are part of government recommendations to be compiled by April 2013 for the Council of Europe.
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Rightwing leads campaign funding list
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Figures by the Media Focus market research institute show the People’s Party holding a 40 per cent share of the total expenditure by political parties in the five months ahead of parliamentary elections next Sunday. The centre-right Radical Party invested SFr4.5 million and the Christian Democrats almost SFr3 million in the same period. The centre-left…
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The Council of Europe’s monitoring platform, the Group of States Against Corruption (Greco), has also criticised Switzerland’s low rate of bribery convictions, with none being handed out in the private sector. Despite its image of fair democracy and good governance, Switzerland is one of the few western countries where politicians and political parties do not…
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swissinfo.ch spoke to United States diplomat Peter Eicher, in charge of the observer team which will be paying special attention to e-voting as well as considering whether more transparency is needed concerning campaign financing. On October 23, some Swiss abroad and citizens in four cantons will be able to vote via internet for the first…
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Nothing is going to change very soon, according to a political scientist, despite fresh efforts and recent publications on the issue. A report published by the weekly Hebdo magazine earlier this year saw the rightwing Swiss People’s Party leading the funding table, with spending of about SFr35 million ($41.2 million) on newspaper advertisements and billboard…
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Political parties and their candidates show different degrees of creativity to attract public attention when it comes to the parliamentary elections. (pictures: Keystone)
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.