By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) received NT$132 million (US$4.4 million) in political donations last year, the largest amount of any political party in Taiwan and slightly more than the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), statistics released by the Control Yuan yesterday showed.
The government watchdog yesterday released its annual compilation of the political donations received by every political party.
While the KMT has been known as one of the richest political parties in the world, mainly because of its massive party assets, the party received only NT$113 million in donations last year, a sharp decline from the NT$380 million they raised in 2011.
The DPP raised NT$210 million in political donations in 2011.
Both parties spent a lot more than they received last year, with the DPP running a defecit of NT$23.6 million and the KMT of NT$43.2 million.
With about the same expenditures, of NT$156 million last year, the DPP spent more than half, or NT$82.4 million, on personnel, while the KMT spent NT$74.5 million on electoral affairs.
More than NT$96 million of the DPP’s donor income came from individual donations, but it trailed the KMT — NT$55.7 million to NT$24.2 million — in donations from corporations, according to the Control Yuan figures.
The other major political parties lagged far behind the DPP and the KMT, with the People First Party raising NT$4.73 million, the New Party NT$4.63 million and the Taiwan Solidarity Union NT$3.85 million.