Aliancia leader Krisztián Forró in Bratislava on October 1, 2023. (source: TASR - Jakub Kotian)
The parties that gained at least 3 percent of all the votes in the September 30 early election will receive a state contribution.
Among these are also the far-right movement Republika and Hungarian minority party Aliancia that did not clear the 5-percent threshold and won no seats in the parliament.
In total, the parties will receive more than €92 million in contributions from the state budget, the Denník N daily writes.. Moreover, the parties that gained more than 2 percent of votes, like Demokrati led by ex-PM Eduard Heger, will get back their €17,000 deposit for running in the election.
The contribution is comprised of three parts; for the sum of votes (€13.04/vote), their operation and number of mandates.
As the winning party, Smer will receive more than €23 million, followed by Progresívne Slovensko with more than €18 million, Hlas with more than €15 million, the coalition of OĽaNO a priatelia with more than €9 million.
KDH (Christian Democratic Movement), SaS and SNS (Slovak National Party) will get more than €7 million, more than €6 million, and almost €6 million, respectively.
Although Republika and Aliancia did not get elected, they will receive more than €3 million each.
Many parties that were elected financed their campaign from previous state contributions. Progresívne Slovensko funded its campaign thanks to loans and big money from entrepreneurs, including Slido creator Peter Komorník. Hlas received a bank loan from Fio Bank.
Transparency International Slovakia estimates that political parties spent almost €21 million on their campaigns. The amount is not final, though. According to TIS, the total amount of campaign expenses will exceed the 2020 record: €23.6 million.
