The Government raises the money for parties and electoral processes to 459 million in 2023

Subsidies to political formations are doubled and the Electoral Board also increases its budget

MADRID, 9 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Government has increased to 459.01 million the money foreseen in the next General Budgets for subsidies to political parties and the organization of electoral processes, and it is that in 2023 it is necessary to hold the local elections in May and the general ones that are expected to take place in December, which are the ones that correspond to the General State Administration.

This is stated in the different items destined for these purposes included in the General State Budgets for 2023, consulted by Europa Press. Specifically, they appear in the accounts corresponding to the Ministry of the Interior and also to the Cortes Generales, where the Budget of the Central Electoral Board (JEC) is included.

Specifically, Interior reserves 347.04 million euros to face the organization of the aforementioned appointments with the polls and 56.06 million euros to subsidize the electoral expenses that these elections generate for political parties. This last item has been increased by 49.86 million euros in relation to the current year, in which it was endowed with just over 6 million euros.

These 56 million are used to pay the advances of 30% and 90% of the subsidies for electoral expenses corresponding to local elections and 30% of those corresponding to general elections. Said credit has the character of expandable.

Likewise, in the Budget project there is an amount of 15,000 euros to deal with the maintenance of the Info-electoral system and another, of 10,000 euros, which is reserved for the possible execution of sentences.

But in addition, in 2023 the political parties will continue to receive subsidies for their ordinary operation. This item has been frozen since 2018 and amounts to 52,704,140 euros.

Political formations also continue to receive annual aid to compensate for their security expenses derived from the terrorist threat. Next year 2,706,200 euros will be distributed for that concept.

In total, the money for subsidies to parties with parliamentary representation will reach 111,473,730 euros in the project by 2023, doubling compared to this year. As established by law, all these subsidies are distributed based on the number of seats and votes obtained by each party in the last elections to the Cortes Generales and will be paid quarterly to the parties.

What has also changed compared to the current year is the Budget of the Electoral Board, which increases by 25.44% to be able to carry out the 'surveillance' tasks of the different electoral processes scheduled for 2023. Thus, compared to the 381,670 euros with those that it has counted in this exercise, in the next one the JEC will have a total of 478,770.

The bulk of that amount will go to current expenses in goods and services (432,740 euros), of which 386,500 will serve to pay compensation for service, that is, the allowances charged by the members of the arbitration body when they meet. This item has increased by 33.45% compared to this year, when 289,600 euros were calculated for these diets. For personnel expenses, 3,900 euros are foreseen, the same as in the previous year.

The arbitration body is made up of eight magistrates of the Supreme Court and five active professors of Law or Political Science and Sociology. Its headquarters are in the Congress of Deputies where they usually meet once a week during electoral processes.