Funding Stir Spreads to Presidential Campaigns
Image: Derrick Frilund / YLE
Concerns over shady campaign funding practices have spread to include the 2006 Presidential elections. The Centre Party announced Thursday that the largest contributor to the campaign by Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen was the industries' and employers' TT Foundation. The Social Democratic Party is to report on contributions to the 2006 campaign within a few days.
The conservative National Coalition Party is also considering if it will publish information about contributors.
According to information published on Thursday by the Centre Party, the single largest contributor to Vanhanen's presidential bid was the TT Foundation. Altogether, the Centre Party campaign received 340,000 euros in outside contributions. The total cost of Vanhanen's campaign was 2.4 million euros.
President Tarja Halonen said Thursday that she is ready to open the books on her campaign financing. The Social Democratic Party is to publish information on contributions to her 2006 campaign within the next few days.
Parliamentary Speaker Sauli Niinistö of the NCP on Thursday proposed that in upcoming elections, campaign contributions should be made immediately public and published daily online.
YLE