Parties to Get More for Campaign Spending

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM — A bill passed by the Knesset late Wednesday will provide for an increase of 20 million shekels in funding for the upcoming election campaign, The Times of Israel reported.

That will bring total funding to approximately 200 million shekels ($58 million), an increase of 12.5 percent.

The change was approved by the Public Committee on Party Financing, which is charged with oversight of the monies allotted to the political parties. State funding, which is based on the size of each party, is crucial for their campaigns, as private donations are strictly limited.

In a statement, the committee, chaired by retired judge Ayala Procaccia, said that after hearing arguments for and against the extra funding and assessments from the Knesset research department, “and in light of the rise in the cost of campaigns and the recurring elections the committee decided that the funding unit will go up.”

Funding units are awarded to each existing Knesset party according to the number of MKs they have.

The Likud party, which has reportedly overspent its budget in past elections, pushed hard for the increase.

Both Labor and Yisrael Beytenu opposed it and instructed their members to vote against it.

Elections are projected to cost NIS 2.4 billion, according to Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman. This sum includes both direct costs and indirect economic losses due to election day being a national holiday.