Donors of the Three Major Political Parties. 2011-2021 List

This dataset was prepared within the framework of the Datathon Albania 2023 event.

The data, graphs, visualizations, and findings were worked on by the youth team, part of the Open Data Youth Network.

This Datathon is carried out as part of the project “Open Data Access and Transparency Project activities in sectors exposed to the risk of corruption,” supported by Sida – Sweden International Development Cooperation Agency.

This Datathon is carried out as part of the “Open Data Access and Transparency Project activities in sectors exposed to the risk of corruption” Project, supported by – Sweden International Development Cooperation Agency.

Electoral campaign donors are private entities, legal or natural persons, who donate funds, goods, or services to electoral candidates or parties.

Over the course of eleven years, from 2011 to 2021, the three largest parties in the country, the Socialist Party (SP), the Democratic Party (DP), and the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI)/Freedom Party (FP) have declared a list of 1,431 names and a total value of donations amounting to 234,264,338 Albanian Lekë (ALL). Out of these donations, 53,276,253 ALL are annual donations, intended for the regular activities of the three major political parties, while the remaining 180,988,085 ALL (77%) are volunteer funds for electoral campaign activities.

Donations constitute approximately 13% of the total funding received by the Socialist Party, Democratic Party, and former Socialist Movement for Integration (234 million donations versus 1.8 billion ALL of public funding over the eleven-year period). Information regarding funding through public funds from the State Budget for Political Parties can be accessed in the article linked to data.al, which was previously published on the website.

A total of 1,431 donors have been identified for the three major parties during the eleven-year period of 2011-2021. Among them, the Socialist Party (SP) had 277 donors with a value of 111.2 million ALL, the Democratic Party (DP) had 777 donors with a value of 53.5 million ALL, and the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI/FP) had 377 donors with a total value of 65.5 million ALL. Additionally, six media donors were recorded, but they were not taken into consideration as typical donations since they represented outstanding obligations of the parties, which were not paid off and no other actions were taken for their collection (they were categorized as donations).

Only 58 (fifty-eight) donors have offered amounts at the maximum legal limit of 1,000,000 ALL during the eleven-year period for the three major parties.

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Table: Donors of the Socialist Party, Democratic Party and Socialist Movement for Integration/FP 2011-2021, in ALL
Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

A total of 40 donations from business entities have been identified for the three major parties, specifically 34 donors for the Democratic Party (DP), 5 for the Socialist Party (SP), and one for the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI/FP).

The total value of donations from legal entities or business entities is 5.47 million lekë, with 2.4 million lekë for the Socialist Party (PS), 2.07 million lekë for the Democratic Party (PD), and 1 million lekë for the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI/PL).

Table: Donations from Legal Entities, Business Societies, by parties, 2011-2021, in ALL
Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

During 2011-2021, the Socialist Party has declared donations amounting to 111,221,050 ALL from 277 donors, with 51 of them contributing amounts at the maximum limit allowed by law.

Table: Donor Socialist Party 2011 – 2021, in ALL

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

For the Democratic Party, it is reported that 777 donors have donated a total value of 53,504,192 ALL (excluding atypical donations such as those from media outlets). The Democratic Party is characterized by donors with lower values, staying below the maximum limit allowed by the law.

Table: Donor Democratic Party 2011 – 2021, in ALL

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

The third-largest party in the country, the former Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI), has secured 69,539,096 ALL in donations during the eleven-year period of 2011-2021. Therefore, the former LSI has collected a higher value of donations compared to the Democratic Party (DP) over the period 2011-2021.

Eight individuals or entities have donated at the maximum limit allowed by law.

Table: Donor Socialist Movement for Integration/PL 2011 – 2021, in ALL

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

The declaration of the list of individuals and corresponding amounts is not mandatory by law for cases where the donations are less than 100,000 ALL. Therefore, in some instances, they may not have been declared.

The donors of the Socialist Party (SP) have an average donation of 401,520 ALL, which is higher than the average donation of the former Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) with 184,454 lekë or the Democratic Party (DP) with an average of only 68,860 ALL per donation.

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

During 2011-2021, a total of 6 elections were held, consisting of 3 Local Elections and 3 General Elections.

The Election Campaign of 2011 had the highest value of donations, amounting to 54,851,591 ALL, with the highest number of donors, reaching 728.

The highest average donation per donor was recorded during the electoral campaign for the 2013 elections, specifically 819,244 ALL. This amount is very close to the maximum limit allowed by law for individuals or entities to donate.

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Open Data Albania, a database owned by AIS, has published year after year data on financing and costs of electoral campaigns and political parties. A group of articles can be read in the Electoral Expenditure or Electoral Processes sections. Being committed to transparency and improvement of electoral situations, the organization has created methodologies and projects to seek funds for its main activity of Citizen Monitoring in Elections.

Download excel: Donors of the Three Major Political Parties. 2011-2021 List
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Translated by: Etleva Pushi