FDP relies on donation record: Hope for a double -digit election result!

Christian Lindner, party leader of the FDP, is optimistic about the Bundestag election on February 23. It is reminiscent of his first top candidate in 2012 when the FDP was 2 percent 60 days before the election and ultimately achieved 8.6 percent. Current surveys from December show the FDP between 3 and 5 percent. In the 2021 federal election, the party recorded a result of 11.5 percent. Wolfgang Kubicki, deputy FDP chairman, expects a double-digit result in the coming election.

The leadership of the FDP expresses confidence due to a high donation volume in the past few weeks. Marco Buschmann, the designated general secretary of the FDP, reports of almost five million euros in donations in a short time. A possible donation record is promised in order to be able to compete with larger parties in the election campaign. Buschmann emphasizes that the FDP currently offers no power and prestige, but the idea of ​​political freedom. Many people, including individual donors, start-up founders and the traditional medium-sized business, support the FDP's election campaign.

donation development of the parties

In 2023, the parties represented in the Bundestag received more donations than in the previous year, as tagesschau.de . The CDU was the party with the most donations while the CSU received the largest individual donation. Compared to 2022, the donation volume doubled to around 2.92 million euros. In 2022, the donations were 1.36 million euros, which represents a severe decline compared to 12.5 million euros in 2021.

The distribution of the donations in 2023 shows:

• CDU: Over 1 million euros
• CSU: Almost 830,000 euros
• FDP: Almost 307,000 euros
• AfD: around 265,000 euros
• SPD: a little more than 255,000 euros
• Greens: around 251,000 euros
• Die Linke received no donations.

volt, a party that was not represented in the Bundestag, received a single donation of 250,000 euros. The largest individual donation in 2023 came from the CSU with 569,962 euros from the Association of the Bavarian Metal and Electrical Industry, followed by 500,000 euros for the CDU and 265,050 euros for the AfD, which represents the third largest individual donation. Political parties in Germany are financed through membership fees, state funds and donations. Donations that are over 50,000 euros must be reported to the Bundestag president immediately, while grants over 10,000 euros are recorded in the accountability report with donor information. From 2024 the obligation to report for large donations from 50,000 to 35,000 euros will be reduced to create more transparency.