The donations scandal

by frog

No I’m not talking about not Ian Wishart’s one. The fact the both major parties are currently so lacking in major donors seems a scandal. It’s now only three weeks to the election and yet, as of ten days ago, Labour hasn’t declared a single received donation over $20,000 this year to help fund its estimated $2.4 million dollar campaign.  National has had 2 donations of $30,000 each – still a long way from it’s estimated campaign budget.  It’s possible National stockpiled a treasure chest before the Electoral Finance Act came into force, and has done no fund-raising from large donors this year, but it seems unlikely that Labour could have done the same.  It’s also unlikely that either party has fund-raised it’s entire budget from small donations.

An integral part of the Electoral Finance Act was to let the public know who was funding parties’ campaign before the election took place.   The public is now running out of time to find out who is financing Labour and National this election and decide whether it is going to effect their votes.

frog says

Published in Justice & Democracy by frog on Sat, October 18th, 2008   

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