President Bronisław Komorowski has signed a law passed by parliament on reducing state funding for political parties in Poland by 50 percent.
The new bill comes into force on 1 January 2011. The ruling Civic Platform (PO) will receive 20 million zloty (5 million euro) less from the State Treasury, the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) 19 million zloty (4.78 million euro) less, and the Democratic left Alliance (SLD) and the Polish Peasants Party (PSL) 7 million zloty (1.76 million euro) less.
Political parties which have no seats in the Parliament but won at least 3 percent of votes in the elections will also have their subsidies cut.
Until now, political parties which received more than 30 percent of votes were allocated 1.73 zloty (0.44 euro) per vote; those which won 20-30 percent of votes in the elections received 4.61 zloty (1.16 euro) per vote. For parties on 10-20 percent support received 8.7 zloty (2.19 euro) per vote, those which gained 5-10 percent of votes received 9.22 zloty (2.32 euro) and those which won less than 5 percent of votes received 11.53 zloty (2.9 euro) per vote.
In 2011, the subsidies will be cut by half. (mg)
Source: IAR