Public funding is an important mechanism for ensuring a level playing field in the campaign and for avoiding the overreliance on wealthy individuals and special interests. In the Republic of Serbia, political parties are entitled to public funding for financing their regular activities and specific disbursements for financing election campaigns. Public funding for regular political activities is only prescribed to the political parties represented in the parliament and distributed proportionately to the election results. Public funds for regular political activities of parliamentary parties can be used to finance their election campaigns. Public funding for election campaigns is conditional to the deposit of electoral bonds equal to the amount of the funds due. Contestants lose the bond if they fail to refund unspent funds or to refund the public funds fully in case they do not achieve the one per cent threshold. The funds are distributed in two instalments: one during the campaign and one after the announcement of the final results. The first instalment is distributed among all registered contestants equally, while the second, larger part, is distributed depending on the number of parliamentary mandates won by the political party.