Home > 2.6 Campaign finance > RUSSIAN FEDERATION - Federal Law on Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right of Citizens of the Russian Federation to Participate in a Referendum
 
 
 
Download file    
 
 
Article 58
 

1. Candidates shall establish their own electoral funds for funding their election campaigns in the period between service of written notice of their nomination (self-nomination) on the relevant election commission and submission of documents for their registration by this election commission. During elections to bodies of local self-government, a candidate need not establish an electoral fund provided that the number of voters in the election district does not exceed 5,000 and that the candidate does not fund his election campaign. In this case, the candidate shall notify the relevant election commission of the said circumstances. Electoral associations that nominated lists of candidates shall, for the purpose of funding their election campaigns, establish electoral funds after their authorized representatives, authorized representatives for financial matters, are registered by relevant election commissions. The election association that nominated candidates in single-seat (multi-seat) election districts shall not create the election fund.


(in the version of Federal Laws of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ, of July 1, 2010, # 133-FZ).


2. A referendum initiative group shall establish its own fund for funding its activities related to advancement of the referendum initiative, organization of the collection of signatures in support of such initiative, and activities aimed at obtaining a certain result at the referendum. The law of a subject of the Russian Federation may establish that, when an initiative to hold a local referendum with a certain number of referendum participants on the territory of the relevant municipality (that shall not exceed five thousand), the referendum initiative group need not establish a referendum fund, provided that the group does not fund the preparation and conduct of the referendum. The maximum limit of expenditures from a referendum fund, sources of its formation, and the maximum limit of donations and contributions to the referendum fund shall be established by law. The law of a subject of the Russian Federation that regulates the preparation and conduct of referendums shall provide for the possibility of establishing referendum funds by other referendum participant groups, including funds for propaganda against holding a referendum, participation in a referendum, against questions submitted for a referendum. The said funds shall be governed by the rules established by this Federal Law for a referendum fund established by the referendum initiative group.


3. Candidates shall be entitled, and in cases established by law, obliged, and electoral associations, and referendum initiative group must appoint authorized representatives for financial matters. Registration of authorized representatives for financial matters shall be effected by commissions in the procedure established by law.


(in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ)


4. Candidates standing for election only on a list of candidates nominated by an electoral association, shall not be entitled to establish their own electoral funds.


61. The non-for-profit companies indicated in paragraph o of Section of this Article shall not be entitled to make donations to the election fund of the candidate, the registered candidate of the election association, the referendum fund, unless the money or other assets received by these non-for-profit entities have been returned/repaid by them to the foreign states, authorities, agencies, bodies, legal entities or individuals indicated in paragraphs 2 to 7, sub-section o, Section 6 of this Article, which had remitted this money or had provided those assets (if such return is impossible, such money and assets has/have been remitted/transferred to the income of the Russian Federation), till the date of making donations to the election fund, the referendum fund.


(Section 61 was introduced by Federal Law of December 30, 2006, # 274-FZ)


7. When making a donation, a citizen shall indicate in the payment document the following personal data: surname, first name, patronymic, date of birth, address of his place of residence, series and number of passport or equivalent identity document, citizenship.


8. When making a donation, a legal entity shall indicate in the payment document the following data on it: the taxpayer's identification number, the name, date of registration, the bank details, mark of absence of limitations envisaged in Section 6 of this Article.


(Section 8 in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ).


9. The candidate, the election association, the referendum initiative group shall be free to return to the donor any donation to the election fund, the referendum fund, except for the donation contributed by the anonymous donor. If the donation was contributed by an individual or a legal entity that is not entitled to perform such donation, or if the donation was made in violation of the requirements of Section 7 and 8 of this Article, or if the donation was contributed in the amount exceeding the legally established maximum amount of such donation, it is subject to return to the donor in full or the portion exceeding the legally established maximum amount shall be returned, with indication of the reason for return. The donation contributed by an anonymous donor shall be transferred to the income of the appropriate budget. The terms for return of donations as well as the terms for transfer of donations to the income of the appropriate budget shall be established in law. The candidate, the election association, the referendum initiative group shall not be liable for acceptance of donations, in contributing of which donors indicated information envisaged in Sections 7 and 8 of this Article, which proved to be untrue, if the candidate and the election association did not timely receive information on the illegality of these donations.


(Section 9 in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ).


10. Maximum limits for sums that may be transferred to electoral funds, including own money of a candidate, an electoral association, money allocated to a candidate by the electoral association, that nominated him, voluntary donations by citizens and legal entities, as well as the maximum limits for expenditures out of electoral funds shall be established by law. Such maximum limits for expenditures out of electoral funds may be increased by up to 20 percent for electoral funds of registered candidates included in the ballot for a repeat voting. A candidate who is simultaneously nominated in more than one electoral district at different elections, if such elections are conducted on the same territory or on territories one of which is located within the other, shall establish electoral funds in accordance with Section 1 of this article, however, the maximum aggregate limit of expenditure from the funds shall be calculated by the greatest of the above limits.


(in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ)


11. All sums of an electoral fund, a referendum fund shall be transferred to a specialized electoral account, referendum account fund that is established, with the consent of the relevant commission, by the candidate or his authorized representative for financial matters, authorized representative for financial matters of an electoral association, referendum initiative group at a branch of the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation, and, in the absence of such branches, at other credit institutions located on the territory of the electoral district, referendum territory. In the absence of any credit institutions on the territory of the electoral district, referendum territory a candidate, an electoral association, referendum initiative group shall, with the concurrence of the relevant commission, choose a credit institution at which a special electoral account, a special referendum account fund is to be established. The law of the subject of the Russian Federation may envisage that, at the elections of bodies of local self-government, rural settlements, transfer of money of the election fund to the special election account is not statutory if the costs of funding of the election campaign of the candidate do not exceed RUR 3,000.


(in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ).


12. At elections of federal bodies of state power, referendums of the Russian Federation, the procedure for establishment, maintenance and closure of the accounts indicated in Section 11 of this Article shall be established by the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation with the concurrence of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. At elections of bodies of state power of subjects of the Russian Federation, and to bodies of local self-government, a referendum of a subject of the Russian Federation, a local referendum, the procedure for establishment, maintenance and closure of the said accounts shall be established by the relevant election commission of the subject of the Russian Federation with the concurrence of the main office (the national bank) of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in the appropriate subject of the Russian Federation. The procedure for and forms of accounting and reporting on receipt of money of election funds, referendum funds and spending of this money shall be established by the appropriate election commission.


(Section 12 in the version of Federal Law of July 21, 2005, # 93-FZ)