In all likelihood, you’ll get an election ad in your mailbox next month, or if you go to one of the rallies they’ll give you a hat, an ecological bag, a fan, or a pen with the initials of a political party. All this generosity comes largely from public funds, that is, it is paid for by all citizens. The most obvious data is the amount to be received by the six parties represented in the Valencian Parliament. Everything is negligible about nothing 3,173,008.30 euros, 4.2% more with what they got in the last regional elections.
As with other calls, administrations they subsidize parties with the amounts determined according to the number of votes, seats and percentage of representation. For the autonomous Valencian general updated the price of these indicators and made this slight increase. in 2023, seat increases from 13,387.25 euros to 13,923 euros and the vote increases from 0.67 euros to 0.70 euros. This last amount is also paid to formations that manage to overcome the 3% barrier even though they are not in the Community. Behind Unides Podem, the Ministry of the Interior recorded the Animal Husbandry coalition, which received only 38,447 votes (1.43%) against Animal Abuse. Therefore, subsidies are limited to PSPV-PSOE, PP, Ciudadanos, Compromís, Vox and Unides Podem.
This quantities available It ranges from 826,657.30 euros for the socialist bench, which won the most votes and seats in the last election against the Valencia Cortes, to 262,158.40 euros for the Unides Podem. The difference is significant and logically distance is pure math. In this case, forking means almost quadrupling.
After 28 May, the parties will have to account for these costs in order to receive financial aid, and they will then be audited by the Sindicatura de Comptes. However, formations have the right to receive 30% advance before this date. This means an important economic injection to activate the election mechanism for the last 15 days, during which rallies and demonstrations have increased in all regions of the province. The amount ranges from around 250,000 euros for the socialists to 79,000 euros for the Unides Podem, 186,000 euros for the popular ones, or 174,000 or 164,000 euros respectively for the Ciudadanos and Compromís.
As a side note, it is important to emphasize that now that the parties already know the amounts, the guidelines for the concepts that fall into them have been set in the instruction published this Friday by the Sindicatura de Comptes. In this sense, Valencia inspection agency follows the lines set by the Court of Accounts, which controls the rest of the election calls.
70 euros to be part of a polling center
Among the amounts that have become known is the allocation of 70 euros for all citizens who participate in the polls as chairman and titled member. As far as substitutes are concerned, they will not receive any amount unless they eventually have to come to replace someone. The composition of the tables is determined by lottery in the municipal buildings. For the call for regional and municipal elections, consulates will hold extraordinary plenary meetings from 29 April to 3 May. From there, the notice period opens and those involved in any non-compliance will have until May 24 to justify the impossibility of not being at the table.
As a basic piece, entities must submit the balance sheet, income statement, journal book, summary of recorded transactions grouped by accounts (ledger), and balance of totals and balances prior to closing of accounting. 30 days after the elections. A 20-day period will then be opened for the Union to seek clarification and a ten-day period for the parties to respond.
The instructions include some changes in the rationale for the money they receive through the grant.
new sanctions
Generally, the court only news in the field of justification for expenses. In this way, political parties have to submit a “minute statement explaining the actions and rallies and expenditures made during the campaign for election propaganda shipments”, which includes the items in the envelopes containing the shipments. the preparation and distribution fee, the list of supporting invoices for such costs, as well as the destination of the shipments by constituency.
New cases of violations stipulated in the Electoral Law are also included, which will lead to a reduction in electoral subsidies in case of non-compliance. From the marked points, if if the private contributions exceed the maximum legal limit of 10,000 Euros, A discount of twice the amount exceeded is offered. Thus, any limit exceeded goes hand in hand with reduced aid. The upper limit is the subsidy itself.
Related allowable expenses, the list has not changed in recent years. In it you will find everything from outdoor advertising to the media, the preparation of envelopes and ballot papers, the rental of places, the means of transportation and expenses for the movement of candidates and staff, or correspondence and postage, as well as interest. For credits that can be claimed. Financial institutions, as customers, have to account for all kinds of loans they have made available to political parties.
Finally, it should be taken into account that the Central and Provincial Election Boards will ensure compliance with the regulations determined by the General Assembly, from the date of the call until 100 days have passed since the election. SAI and request the cooperation of this body to request documents they deem appropriate.
Report
All documents to be submitted electronically will be translated into a subsequent report. Compte SyndicateQ. In 2019, the document analyzed and reported the quantities used by each party. None of them crossed the line, and the allegations revolved around supporting documents.
Among the remarkable points is that although there is a section for personnel expenses, no training has been used. The bulk of the amounts were circulated in the rental of materials, venues, and vehicles for the conveyance or dissemination of the message. In the coming month, election offices become a meeting point for militancy and supporters, and volunteerism is the prevailing nature. Parties rely on this group of people for some of the mobilization details for upcoming rallies or meetings.
The SAI publishes a brochure with useful information for the parties.
Not all parties competing in municipal elections have the structure and opportunities of large formations. The province of Alicante, like the rest of Spain, also has small local parties (old or new) that face the decision of the polls. The rules they have to abide by as to how much they can spend on elections with public money oblige the SAI to publish brochures containing key concepts or, in this case, “useful information” before the audit.
LIMITS: three directives
- The maximum spend amount is taken from: multiply the number of inhabitants by 0.11 euros corresponding to the legal population of the constituencies in which each party or coalition offers its candidacy. If they are represented in at least 50% of their municipalities, they can spend an additional 150,301.11 Euros for each province.
- The second condition is that outdoor advertising expenditures (posters, posters, billboards, etc.) cannot exceed 20% of the total spending limit. The same rate applies to the money ceiling that can be allocated to press, radio and social media advertisements.
CALCULATION: steps to follow
- If you want to know the maximum amount a party can spend, you can calculate it by following three easy steps. The first is to know the number of the town’s inhabitants, according to what appears in the municipal register, approved by Royal Decree that came into effect on 31 December 2022, and is also featured on the National Institute of Statistics page.
- For example, in the case of the city AlicanteThe 338,577 people shown by INE will be multiplied by 0.11 euro. As a result, the spending limit 37,243.47€. If we do the same for Elche, the figure he gave us is 25,913,80 euros. From these totals, we derive the partial limits set for advertisements, which will remain at €7,448.70 for Alicante and €5,182.76 for Elche.
SANCTIONS: consequences of extremism
- The Court of Accounts is very clear in complying with the measures, and in fact, there are many inquiries made by campaign addresses. However, as a deterrent measure, sanctions classified as serious or very serious have been increased. Specifically, exceeding the election spending limits represents a violation classified as a violation (Article 17 of Organic Law No. 8/2007). When the portion exceeding the election expenditure limit is 10% or more, the court imposes a very serious sanction; serious, when the limit is exceeded in the range of 3% to below 10%; and finally, it will be light when the excess goes from 1% to 3%.
- Duplicate Article 17 of the same Organization Law imposes proportional sanctions from double to five times the excess amount, depending on the previous nature of the violation, with a minimum amount. Fines in this way range from 5,000 euros for the mild ones to 50,000 euros for the very serious and 25,000 euros for the serious ones.