For the next election campaigns, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance is expecting millions in tax money. “We expect to receive around 2.75 million euros from state funding for our successful performance in the European elections,” BSW treasurer Ralph Suikat told “Spiegel”. The money is expected to flow in 2025.
In the European elections, the BSW achieved 6.2 percent nationwide, a total of around 2.45 million votes. Parties that achieved at least 0.5 percent in this election are entitled to state funding. The amount depends on their result and donations, among other things. According to Suikat, the BSW can currently rely on donations totaling eight million euros.
The BSW is planning a total budget of 1.3 million euros for the election campaigns in the east, said the treasurer: around 400,000 euros for Thuringia, around 300,000 euros for Saxony and around 250,000 euros for Brandenburg. A remaining budget of 350,000 euros is still to be distributed. Suikat expects around 500,000 to 600,000 euros in state campaign reimbursement for the three state elections in the east.
The BSW received several large donations after its founding in January. For example, the BSW received 4.1 million euros on March 13, 2024 from the married couple Lotte Salingré and Thomas Stanger, who live in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Both had already made a donation to BSW: In January 2024, 990,000 euros were already donated to the BSW as a party donation. The donations are very high compared to other parties.
The party founder recently declared her new party capable of governing, and the BSW could even imagine appointing the next state premier after the state elections in Thuringia. “I have no doubt that we have good personalities who can take on tasks in a state government,” Wagenknecht told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” in a recent interview.
