Home > 2.7 Election funding > RUSSIAN FEDERATION - Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right of Citizens to Participate in a Referendum
 
 
 
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Article 57
 
Article 57. Funding of the Preparation and Conduct of Election or Referendum
1. Costs related to the preparation and conduct of an election of a relevant level in the Russian Federation, operation and improvement of means of automation, training of election officials and voter education shall be paid by election commissions from the funds allocated for these purposes from an appropriate budget (the federal budget, the budget of a subject of the Russian Federation and/or the local budget).
2. Costs related to the conduct of a referendum of the Russian Federation shall be paid out of the funds allocated from the federal budget for such purpose. Costs related to the conduct of other referendums shall be paid out of the funds allocated, respectively, from the budget of a subject of the Russian Federation, the local budget for such purpose. Before the decision to call a referendum is officially published, the funds allocated to commissions from the federal budget, the budget of a subject of the Russian Federation, the local budget respectively may only be used to cover the commissions’ expenditures related to the verification of signatures collected in support of the referendum initiative.
3. Allocations for the preparation and conduct of elections and referendums shall constitute a separate entry in the respective budget for the relevant fiscal year. The commissions organizing elections and referendums that receive funds within ten days from the day of official publication of the decision to call (hold) an election, a referendum shall be primarily if charge of managing and disposing of the funds allocated by respective budgets for the conduct of elections and referendums.
4. If the respective budget provides no funding for an election, a referendum, or if the transfer of funds to the commissions organizing an election, a referendum is delayed, the preparation and conduct of such election, referendum shall rely on bank loans to be granted on a competitive basis to such commission or the election commission of a subject of the Russian Federation if the election commission organizing an election of bodies of local self-government, a local referendum is not a legal entity. In such case, the maximum amount of expenditures shall not exceed the sum contained in the report of the election commission, referendum commission of the respective level on expenditure of funds in the preparation and conduct of the similar previous election, referendum, with due regard to the change in the size of the minimum monthly wage established by the federal law. The Government of the Russian Federation, the relevant executive body of state power of a subject of the Russian Federation, the authorized body of local self-government shall, within ten days of the day of the application made by the relevant commission, issue to this commission a state or municipal guarantee for return of the borrowed funds, including interest thereon.
5. Such borrowed funds and interest thereon shall be repaid, depending on the level of the election, the referendum from the federal budget, the budget of the subject of the Russian Federation, the local budget. Funds allocated for such debt repayment shall be specifically approved by a law or another regulatory act concerning the respective budget for the relevant year.
6. Reports of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, the election commissions of subjects of the Russian Federation, municipality election commissions on spending the budgetary funds on an election, a referendum shall be submitted, respectively, to the houses of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, legislative (representative) bodies of state power of subjects of the Russian Federation, representative bodies of local self-government. Chairmen of commissions shall manage the funds allocated for the preparation and conduct of an election, referendum and be responsible, in accordance with the law, for compliance of financial documents with financial decisions of the commissions and for filing statements on expenditure of such funds in accordance with the procedure and by the time established by law.
7. The procedure for establishment and maintenance of accounts, records, reports, and the procedure for transfer of funds allocated from the federal budget of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation to other commissions for the preparation and conduct of elections of federal bodies of state power, referendums of the Russian Federation, operation and improvement of means of automation, training of election officials and education of voters, and supporting the operation of election commissions shall be established by the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation with the concurrence of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. The procedure for establishment and maintenance of accounts, records, reports, and the procedure for transferring funds allocated from the budget of a subject of the Russian Federation, a local budget to the election commission of the subject of the Russian Federation, other commissions for the preparation and conduct of elections of bodies of state power of the subject of the Russian Federation, to bodies of local self-government, referendums of the subject of the Russian Federation, local referendums, operation and improvement of means of automation, training of election officials and education of voters, and supporting the work of election commissions shall be established by the election commission of the subject of the Russian Federation with concurrence of the main office (the national bank) of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in the subject of the Russian Federation.
8. Banks shall charge no fee for opening accounts of election commissions, referendum commissions and for transactions on these accounts and no interest shall accrue on the funds kept in the said bank accounts.
9. Commissions that receive funds from budgets of different levels shall maintain separate accounting records and reports for funds received from the said budgets.