Donations for Foundation Day
Wagenknecht’s party starts with 1.4 million euros
January 8, 2024, 12:00 a.m
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Only through donations did the ex-Left-Wagenknecht party have a balance of more than one million euros when it was founded. According to official information, only two transfers totaling 75 euros were received from Russia. A dozen donations are over 10,000 euros.
The “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht” party has access to 1.4 million euros in starting capital on the day it was founded. According to preliminary calculations, this is how much money the predecessor association “BSW – for Reason and Justice eV” earned in 2023. BSW treasurer Ralph Suikat announced this to the Editorial Network Germany (RND). About 90 percent of donations are small amounts. There are a dozen donations above the publication limit of 10,000 euros. A couple donated 50,000 euros, three private individuals donated 20,000 euros each, and less than ten donations totaled 10,000 euros.
These donors will be listed in the party’s annual report for 2024, even if they transferred the money to the predecessor association in the previous year, Suikat announced to the RND. Party lawyers and anti-corruption activists had warned about this.
Party law expert Martin Morlok told the RND: “If only the association appears as a donor in the party’s annual report, then that would be a circumvention of the transparency regulations. That cannot be the case. Political honesty requires compliance with them.” A total of less than 12,500 euros were donated from abroad, less than 5,000 euros of which came from non-EU countries. With reference to Russia, two donations totaling 75 euros were received – these came from German accounts but Russian IP addresses.
The party “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht – Reason and Justice” wants to be officially founded this Monday. The newly founded party wants to run in the European elections in June 2024 as well as in the state elections in Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony in the fall. It is currently difficult to estimate how large the vote potential of the new “Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance” is. According to an initial analysis by the CDU, the potential is “definitely 10 percent,” said CDU leader Friedrich Merz. “A small part of this potentially comes at the expense of the Union.” It is also possible that AfD voters switched to the Wagenknecht party camp. How many is difficult to say.