Political party funding in Spain: ideas for a debate

Authors

  • Óscar Sánchez Muñoz

Keywords:

Partidos políticos, financiación de los partidos, transparencia, igualdad de oportunidades

Abstract

Party finance is probably one of the most controversial issues in modern democracies. The aim of this article is not to find a «constitutional model» of party funding, but to make a contribution to the academic discussion about the reform of the party funding system in Spain, paying attention to the functions that parties must accomplish within the system and to the way how a particular regulation of party funding may help to consolidate a participative and egalitarian model of democracy. According to this vision, the article offers a critical approach of the current regulation, adopted in 2007 and recently reformed in 2012, and claims for a broad reform based upon the principles of sufficiency of resources, transparency, equality of chances and the fastening of the relationship between political parties and society.