PThe political parties have reported to the CEC on election expenses. The LDPR spent the most money on the Duma campaign — almost 81 million rubles more than United Russia, which took second place in expenses
How much did the parliamentary parties spend
The LDPR has become the leader in the number of funds spent on the election campaign to the State Duma, it follows from the final financial reports of the parties to the CEC. The LDPR election fund received 701 million rubles, of which the party spent 698.3 million rubles on elections. Most of the funds (66% of the spent) went to election campaigning through television and radio, a third – to the production and distribution of printed campaigning. Materials in print media cost the party 20 million rubles, in online media 7 million rubles.
The LDPR ranks first in election spending for the second time— in the 2016 Duma elections, it also outpaced other parties in terms of investments. In comparison with the last elections, the LDPR changed the structure of its spending — then the main item of expenditure was the release of its own printed agitation; holding public mass events cost 6 million rubles (this year only 866 thousand rubles went to them).
“This time, it was decided to participate massively in the television campaign, to convey their program positions in the form of commercials. We used them for campaigning on television, on all channels that participated in the draw,” Boris Chernyshov, Deputy chairman of the State Duma from the LDPR, told RBC. He noted that the campaign costs were “absolutely justified”.
In second place in terms of spending, United Russia spent 617.3 million rubles out of 700 million rubles collected in the election fund for the autumn Duma elections. The party will return almost 83 million rubles to the sponsors; according to the report, the party in power did not have voluntary donations from citizens. “United Russia” made a bet on the distribution of printed campaign materials (404 million rubles were spent from the fund for this).,half as much was spent on campaigning through television. The ruling party spent significantly more than others on mass events – their organization cost 1.5 million rubles. Earlier, Deputy Secretary of the General Council of the EP Sergey Perminov explained that the party revised its strategy compared to the 2016 elections and used a hybrid format with “online and offline forms of promotion of meanings”.
The final financial reports of the party were to be submitted to the CEC by 18:00 on October 25. At the time of publication of the material on the website of the Central Election Commission, there were no reports of two parties that had passed to the Duma “Fair Russia” For the Truth” and “New People”. The CEC explained to RBC that the data is updated promptly, as the reports are submitted by parties.
According to the CEC at the beginning of September, “Fair Russia” spent 479 million of the collected 549 million rubles for the truth, “New People” 422 million of 469 million rubles.
The Communists turned out to be the most modest of the parliamentary five. The Communist Party spent 178.5 million rubles on the campaign. At the same time, almost all the funds (173 million rubles) went to the issue of printed agitation. “Most of the federal fund’s funds were spent on printed products, because television advertising is expensive, and we felt that wethere will be enough free airtime,” first deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Yuri Afonin explained to RBC, adding that the strategy paid off. Part of the organizational work, in particular meetings with voters, was paid for from the regional funds of single-mandate candidates. The federal fund paid for propaganda work, the Communist Party noted.
The expenses indicated in the financial reports of the parties cannot be considered complete – not all expenses are carried out through election funds, explains political scientist Alexander Zhalov. In addition, in parallel with the autumn elections to the State Duma, elections to the legislative assemblies of the regions were held, which also required resources, and the reports did not indicate the funds of single-mandate candidates, the political scientist noted.
According to the ratio of costs and results, the Communist Party campaign can be considered the most effective, Zhalov added. However, according to him, the results of the party cannot be attributed only to its expenses for campaigning – the reason is that the Communist Party managed to accumulate a protest electorate. According to Zhalov, expenses from the electoral fund do not play a major role. “The LDPR entered the campaign with almost the same sociological indicators as the Communist Party, and as a result became the fourth faction in the Duma in terms of the number of deputies,” he noted.
According to the results of the elections to the State Duma held on September 17 and 19, United Russia scored 49.82%, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation 18.93%, the Liberal Democratic Party 7.55%, Just Russia Patriots For the Truth 7.46%, New People 5.32%. The number of mandates of the “United Russia” decreased from 343 to 324, the Communist Party increased from 42 to 57, the “Fair Russia” For the Truth” increased from 23 to 27, and the LDPR decreased from 39 to 21.
Expenses of non-parliamentary parties
Among the non-parliamentary parties, the Party of Pensioners has become the leader in spending. Of the 176.8 million rubles of the election fund, she spent 163.8 million, directing almost all of the funds to the release of campaign materials. The Civic Platform (10 million out of 11.7 million rubles spent on elections), the Party of Growth (40 million out of 51.4 million rubles) and the Green Alternative (35.7 million out of 35.8 million rubles) also focused on this. RBC has contacted the press service of the Pensioners’ Party and the Civic Platform for comment.
The most expensive item of expenditure of “Apple” was “payment for services performed by legal entities or citizens of Russia under an agreement”,”83 million rubles. They include expenses for the distribution of printed materials of the party, and all expenses for campaigning on the Internet, explained RBC in the press service of “Apple”. Two-thirds of the funds spent on advertising were directed to digital advertising, the party said.
The Civic Platform (11.7 million rubles), the Communists of Russia (20.3 million rubles), the Motherland (32.3 million rubles), the Green Alternative (35.8 million rubles) and the Russian Communist Party (40.5 million rubles) spent the least in the elections.
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