Who should 8 million be spent on during the Seimas elections? EUR: the most expensive parties and candidates

During the Seimas elections, all parties and other candidates raised and spent 7.75 million. Euros. The average amount of expenses per member of the Seimas was 54.9 thousand. euros.

Most of the total expenses: 78%, or almost 6 million. EUR – consisted of funds for the election of political parties. Another 986 thousand. 718 thousand euros were allocated by individual candidates. The survey was prepared by Mindaugas Skačkauskas, Advisor to the Investigation Division of the Seimas Chancellery.

In terms of the total amount of expenses, the largest expenses incurred during the Seimas elections were incurred by the National Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) – the party and its candidates spent 1.69 million LTL during the political campaign. Euros. More than a million: a total of 1.09 million. Euros: issued by the Lithuanian Union of Greens and Peasants (LVŽS), followed by the Labor Party (932 thousand euros) and the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (905 thousand euros).

Political advertising accounted for the largest share of all party spending: 86.7 percent.

Among the parties that won the elections, the Freedom Party had the smallest budget: 267 thousand. euros.

“The Freedom Party, as a new party, did not receive a state grant for political parties and we had to rely only on the victims of the people – the voters – and of course we actively enlist the support of the GPM. (…) Taking into account that we do not want to remain indebted to the service providers and employees who worked during this campaign, it is very rational and we pool our resources and resources, ”explained Iveta Paludnevičiūtė, head of the electoral headquarters of the Seimas of the Party of freedom.

TS-LKD explains that participation in the second round raises the price

Andrius Vyšniauskas, who headed the TS-LKD headquarters and joined the Seimas, assures that the parties will spend everything they have during the elections; some will borrow more.

“Parties can raise money in basically three ways: it’s a state grant, a donation from individuals during the campaign, and 1 percent. GPM. In this way we have accumulated these funds. We are the largest party in the country and we had the higher subsidy, which is basically reflected in this amount of money ”, says A. Vyšniauskas and assures that the elections have accumulated in the last four years.

According to him, the total amount is also higher due to the fact that the party had 55 single members in the second round, which was supported not only by locals but also by a national advertising campaign.

The most expensive mandate is 60 times more expensive than the cheapest

The most expensive mandate was for the Lithuanian Green Party: the cost per mandate amounted to 239 thousand. euros. The only member of this party, Algirdas Butkevičius, joined the Seimas.

In second place is the “Freedom and Justice” party, for which a mandate cost 176 thousand. A similar amount was paid for a mandate from Lithuania’s Polish electoral campaign: the Union of Christian Families (171,000 euros), and a member of the Social Democratic Party Seimas received 169.7,000 euros. campaign costs in euros.

“The price of a mandate shows that the efficiency was determined mainly by the content: during the election campaign, the main opponents were obviously TS-LKD and LVŽS, whose opposition attracted the attention of voters, caught their attention and therefore , automatically increased the efficiency of the campaign. Close to this pair are other right-wing parties in terms of efficiency, which have always been on the side of the conservatives: LP and LRLS, “says Kęstutis Gečas, director of the Hero Group communication group.

At that time, according to official data, the cheapest electoral campaign was sent to Petras Gražulis: the self-nominated candidate spent 4.1 thousand. euros. The expenses of Domas Griškevičius, a member of the Seimas who raised himself, are similar: 4882 euros, and Vytautas Bakas, who has grown up, spent 6089 euros on the campaign.

Among the parties, the Freedom Party, the debutant of the elections, incurred the lowest spending per mandate: 24.3 thousand. euros. In second place – TS-LKD, with 33.8 thousand euros of expenses per mandate.

Valdemaras Valkiūnas got the most support: he kept to himself

Not only the parties, but also the parliamentarians themselves financed their campaigns.

Valdemaras Valkiūnas, a self-proclaimed member of the Seimas, earned the highest amount of income: € 36,951. The CEC website states that all victims are theirs. It is followed by the conservative Kazys Starkevičius, who raised 34,952 euros for his campaign, the third, Antanas Guoga of the Labor Party, who raised 32,513 euros.

You can see the full ten in the table below.

Argument: There have been cases in which a mandate has cost half a million

The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party spent 904 thousand on the elections. The amount of expenses per elected member of the Seimas amounted to 69.6 thousand euros. euros

“The Social Democrats, who have the third-largest Seimas faction, are roughly in the middle in terms of the price of a seat. We work with the budget that we had, so it is difficult to estimate, much or little, in terms of the amounts spent. Where is that threshold to say too much or too little? There have been cases in Lithuania where a mandate cost more than half a million euros, ”said party representative Justinas Argustas.

He explained that communication was adapted to the competitive environment and the opportunities available, and that the most significant costs of the political campaign were advertising on television, radio, Internet, as well as in the press.

Different strategies: some have published more online, others for brochures

The parties spent their money in different ways: some spent more on online advertising, others spent more on traditional advertising. In general, most of the spending went to press advertising (€ 1.1 million), outdoor advertising (€ 1.6 million) and other media, such as leaflets sent home, advertising parties and candidates which cost almost 2 million euros through other means. euros.

Public relations expert K. Gečas explains that it is logical to pay close attention to this last line, as it ensures direct communication with the voter.

“Qualitatively, the question is whether the amount is not lost in this way, because it is impossible or very difficult to visit all the voters. Investing in outdoor advertising (the second most important part of the investment) is also logical, because outdoor advertising acts as an effective reminder to the voter, ”says K. Gečas.

The budget of the winning TS-LKD was distributed fairly evenly among the different instruments: most of the expenditure consisted of “other” promotional materials, such as brochures, meetings, brochures, etc. – 431.7 thousand were spent for this purpose. euros. During the campaign, the party conducted a “National Poll”, explained A. Vyšniauskas, who headed the TS-LKD headquarters.

TS. LKD spent 320 thousand LTL on foreign political advertising. EUR, in the press – 216 thousand. – on the Internet – 189 thousand euros. EUR, on television – 177 thousand. euros.

“It is very good when an electoral campaign has a coherent overall campaign, which is what we try to do. Because some competitors have focused a lot on specific measures of some kind. Some have focused heavily on the internet, others have published a large number of publications and magazines of all kinds. And, in my opinion, those things didn’t work out very well. Such a healthy combination of various measures and consequently funds evenly distributed among the national campaign, single-member members and all measures, justifies this, ”says A. Vyšniauskas.

He noted that the TS-LKD campaign did not use the services of an advertising or public relations partner, but instead hired individual specialists, saving the consultants money.

LVŽS practically did not advertise on television (expenditure of 4.4 thousand euros), and concentrated most of the expenditure on advertising foreign policy (305 thousand euros), and other media such as brochures, publications, etc. (468 thousand euros). LVIA spokeswoman Dalia Vencevičienė explained that the costs depended on the choices of individual members.

“The one-man members decided for themselves which ads were most active for them in their regions, in the country where they were running, and the majority chose brochures: brochures, regional newspapers, posters, most of them, and it was created there” explains D. Vencevičienė.

The Freedom Party spent about half of its budget online: 108,000. euros. I. Paludnevičiūtė, who headed the party headquarters, explains that this was done after evaluating the potential voter.

“We’ve done a bit of research, assessed our voter image, and simply assessed where we can best reach more voters and target our constituents more rationally, rather than just spending money on advertising that is less effective and less relevant to us. We assume that our voter is more accessible in the electronic space, and advertising there is still a bit cheaper than painting the whole city, ”explained I. Paludnevičiūtė.

K. Gečas, head of the communication group “Hero group”, appreciates that the Freedom Party’s investment in the Internet seems logical, and the voter of the TS-LKD is much older: “Therefore, he focused on personal contact , outdoor advertising and even the press, knowing that the press is declining rapidly, but is still an important source of information for older people. “

According to him, it is not surprising that television was not actively used, because advertising on this channel is very expensive, it takes a large budget to get attention.