Grand Council BE Finances in Bernese politics to become more transparent
In future, the financing of elections and votes in the canton of Bern will have to be disclosed. On Thursday, the Grand Council passed an amendment to the law on political rights at first reading with 89 votes in favor, 50 against and 2 abstentions.
12.09.2024, 16:51
SDA
In future, anyone who spends more than CHF 30,000 on campaigns for election to the cantonal government and the Grand Council will have to disclose their funding. The same applies to cantonal referendums. Political parties will not be affected in future either - the Council did not want transparency for general political funding.
The committee responsible will have to go back over the books to determine the amount above which donations made in the twelve months prior to an election or vote must be disclosed. The cantonal parliament followed a motion by Tobias Vögeli (GLP). However, anonymous donations of over CHF 1,000 will no longer be permitted in future. Here, parliament followed the government's proposal.
In future, the same thresholds will apply to Council of States elections as are already stipulated in federal law for National Council elections. For campaigns, this value is CHF 50,000, for donations CHF 15,000. Council of States elections are considered cantonal elections. National Council elections, on the other hand, are governed by federal law.
Parliament wants sanction options
The government's proposal did not want any criminal sanctions for breaches of the new rules. Parliament took a different view: according to a motion by the Center Party, the responsible committee must examine a sanctions model "that is in line with the principles of the rule of law".
In addition, the commission should add a so-called "sunset clause" to the law and thus make it time-limited. The motion came from the FDP parliamentary group.
The Grand Council agreed that transparency is needed in politics. But not how this should be achieved. Transparency in political action is a matter of honor, said Hans Schori, for example. However, the law was a "toothless paper tiger", he said on behalf of the SVP parliamentary group. "We are pretending to be transparent."
"Transparency is the basis for trust"
Samuel Kullmann from the EDU parliamentary group described transparency "as a question of definition". Money does not have too much influence in Swiss politics anyway. "There are practically no elections to be won with money here". It was the SVP and EDU who voted against the law in the final vote.
For the other parties, it was clear that the law was needed. "Democracy only works with transparency," said Ursula Marti from the SP/Juso parliamentary group with conviction. "Transparency is the basis for trust in politics," said Claudine Esseiva (FDP).
Transparent political funding is the basis for a free formation of opinion, said Philippe Messerli (EPP). "The population has a right to transparency," demanded Anna de Quervain (Greens). The Center Group also had positive things to say about the law, as long as it was "simple and clear", said Andreas Mühlemann.
New rules to apply for the first time in 2026
This was also the government's intention. It had drafted the law with a sense of proportion, it was lean and regulated "only a minimum", as long as it was not overloaded by Parliament, said State Secretary Christoph Auer.
The second reading of the amendment to the law will take place in one of the next sessions. The new rules are to be applied for the first time in the 2026 cantonal elections at the latest.
The amendment to the law is the result of a proposal from the SP, Greens, EVP and GLP, which was referred by the Grand Council in December 2021.
