The direct state financing of the current activities of political parties in Russia in 2004–2017

This article considers the trend of increasing the direct state financing of current activities of political parties in Russia. The chronological scope of the study covers the period from 2004, when the direct public funding of political parties was introduced, to 2017. The factors that caused the increase in state funding are examined, and its impact on the party system is determined. The author’s conclusions are based on an analysis of information resulting from audits of consolidated financial statements of political parties, as well as other data posted on the website of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation. The amount of funds allocated to political parties from the Federal budget increased by 257 times from 2005 to 2017. During this period, there was a decrease in the number of political parties receiving state funding, while the share of state funding in the budgets of political parties that retained the right to receive it increased, eventually becoming the main source of funding for the political parties receiving it. The increase in the volume of state funding and its share in the structure of party revenues is due to an increase in the amount of money paid to political parties that received at least 3% of the vote for the vote of a voter following the elections of deputies of the State Duma. Payments for each voter’s vote received at the elections increased by 304 times over the period. State funding contributed to the growth in capital intensity of political parties and the formation of a party system with a predominance of several large political parties. Currently, it contributes to the preservation of the existing party system by placing political parties that are not entitled to receive funds from the Federal budget in clearly non-competitive conditions compared to recipients of state funding.

About the author: Fyodor Dolgikh – Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D.) in History, Chair of Theory and History of State and Law, Moscow University for Industry and Finance “Synergy”, Moscow, Russia.

Citation: Dolgikh F. (2018) Pryamoe gosudarstvennoe finansirovanie tekushchey deyatel’nosti politicheskikh partiy v Rossii v 2004–2017 godakh [Direct state financing of current activities of political parties in Russia in 2004–2017] // Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol.27, no.6, pp.49–61. (In Russian).

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