Party subsidy battle in Brazil
Last week both chambers of the Brazilian congress approved legislation to modify the distribution of the annual “party fund” state subsidy given to political parties. The TSE (electoral authority) had modified the distribution on February 6th such that 49% would go equally to parties registered with the TSE, 29% to parties based on their congressional represenation, and the remaining 29% to parties that had gotten at least 5% of the votes in at least five states and at least 1% of the vote nationwide in the previous two elections (though the news report I read does not say how that last 29% was to be distributed).
Congress reacted to this new rule, changing the distribution such that 95% would go to parties based on their vote for the lower house and the remaining 5% equally among the parties. However, the February installment of the subsidy (it is distributed montly), due to go to parties this week, is currently going to the parties on the TSE distribution, as the Congressional overhaul still has to be approved by President Lula.
The subsidy for all parties 2007 is about US$60M, minus fines on parties for campaign finance violations.