Proposal to raise the campaign spending limit for small parties

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The bill would raise the campaign spending limit for municipal elections: 0.11 euros per resident in municipalities with more than 20,000 residents and 0.22 euros in smaller ones. Parties running in at least 25 % of a province's municipalities could also spend an extra 150,301.11 euros for each province where they meet that condition.
2. The bill would change the penalties for exceeding the spending limit. The minimum fine of 50,000 euros would apply only to very serious violations, and the minimum fines for serious and minor ones would be removed; those fines would range from double to five times the overspending.
3. The text justifies the changes because the current limit is not enough to run a campaign, and because for small parties running in a single district even a tiny overspend can trigger a disproportionate 50,000-euro fine.
4. The changes would also apply to parties that took part in the 2019 municipal elections by running candidates in a single electoral district.

Who it affects

• Parties, federations, coalitions and groups running in municipalities, especially small ones running in a single district.: They would get a higher spending limit and less disproportionate penalties if they exceed it.
• Parties running in at least 25 % of a province's municipalities.: They could spend an extra 150,301.11 euros for each province where they meet that condition.
• Parties that took part in the municipal elections called by Royal Decree 209/2019, of April 1.: The new rules would also apply to them if they ran candidates in a single district.

Words worth knowing

Circunscripción electoral (electoral district)

A division of the territory, such as a province or a municipality, from which candidates run.

Población de derecho (registered population)

The number of people officially registered as living in a municipality.

Infracción muy grave, grave o leve (very serious, serious or minor violation)

Categories of legal violations, ordered from most to least serious.

Tribunal de Cuentas (Court of Auditors)

A public body that audits accounts, including parties' campaign spending.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries