A relative majority of 45% agree with political parties being funded through the state, the seventh edition of the iSurvey shows.
Respondents were asked: Do you agree in party financing by the state? Overall, 45% of respondents agree with the idea, 41.9% do not and a total of 13.1% are undecided.
A discussion was sparked about whether Malta should rethink its system whereby political parties survive solely on donations after it was alleged that the Nationalist Party (PN) media company, Media.link, had issued invoices for services that were never rendered to a subsidiary company of Silvio Debono’s db Group.
This subsidiary company is said to provide food to airlines, and it is being alleged that this move was carried out in order to circumvent the current administration’s party financing law which prevents any person or entity from donating upward of €25,000 in a given financial year.
Opposition Leader did not deny that invoices had been issued by Media.link, however denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly refuted calls for the publication of such invoices while stating that the dbGroup is free to publish them if it wants to. The company then announced, through a press release, that it was paying the wages of two party officials: Rosette Thake and Brian St John, an allegation which was promptly denied by the PN.
In a climate where political parties are at the mercy of donors, in the sense that parties cannot run effectively without a steady stream of donations, many have questioned whether, for the sake of transparency and the prevention of conflict of interests, parties should go on surviving through donations.
One wonders where the Labour Party is getting the money to fund such an expensive electoral campaign with triple the amount of billboards and street marketing when compared to the PN and with an avalanche of social media adverts going on.
Various countries around the world have introduced the state funding of political parties, such as Germany, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Israel, Canada, Australia, Spain, Japan and Mexico.
The PN Opposition and Alternattiva Demokratika(AD) are both in favour of state financing of political parties. The PN had set up an independent commission into proposals for funding of political parties in order to address the conflict of interests being created by big business donating large funds and then tendering for public projects.
PL is against the idea with Finance Minister Edward Scicluna showing skepticism, stating that such a move would be met with resistance by tax payers. According to this iSurvey however a significant proportion are ready to make the move.
PN AND PL voter split
Whether it is because of Dr Busuttil’s stance, albeit morbid, in favour of state funding, or because the PN was embroiled in the db Group conflict, there are more PN voters who are in favour of party financing by the state than their PL counterparts.
Dr Busuttil has repeatedly said that he inherited a party in financial ruins, however The Malta Independent reported that in 2016, the PN had actually received more donations than the PL declared to have received.
Of those who voted PN in the 2013 election, 51.3% agree with the idea, 38.3% do not while 10.4% are undecided.
A proportion of 39.6% of those who voted PL in the 2013 election agree with state financing of parties, 44.7% do not, and 15.7% are undecided.
Taking a look at respondents’ voting intentions should an election be held today, the figures tally with far more PN voters in favour than PL, however it can be said that those who intend to vote PL today are far more undecided.
Should an election take place today, 37.2% of PL voters agree with state party financing, 44.9% do not while a whopping 17.9% are undecided. A total of 54.4% of their PN counterparts agree with state party financing, 36.6% do not while just 9% are undecided.
Finance Minister Edward Scicluna’s comments about state party financing could have been aimed at PL voters, when taking into consideration the different views along party lines about the issue.
The April 2017 iSurvey – the seventh of its kind – was commissioned to Business Leaders Malta on behalf of The Malta Independent. A total of 600 respondents were used, representative of age, gender and spread of localities. With such a sample size, the margin of error is +/- 4%. More info on the iSurvey will be disclosed throughout the week.