The total amount of public funding of the Russian political parties will be reduced by 30%. Thus, government funding will decline from 6.99 billion rubles to 5.03 billion rubles.
According to the law 'On political parties', political organizations receive money from the state after the elections to the State Duma - 110 rubles for each vote. However, only those parties, which got 3% of the votes in the elections, can count on the state support.
That is why the 'Yabloko' party will be deprived of funding. According to CEC preliminary data, the party won only 1.99% of the vote.
Only four parties may count on the government funding: the 'United Russia', the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and 'A Fair Russia'.
The United Russia's situation will not change - 3.1 billion rubles instead of 3.5 billion rubles. The Liberal Democratic Party will receive 759 million, last year it was 847 million rubles.
Revenues of the Communist Party will be almost halved - from 1.38 billion rubles to 770 million rubles.
'A Fair Russia' party's state support will decline from 957 million rubles per year to 363 million rubles, RT reports.
The President of the Minchenko Consulting Communication Group, Yevgeny Minchenko, noted, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, that this budget cut will significantly affect the activity of the Russian parties. "Most of all, of course, it will hit the 'Yabloko' party, which has previously used government funding. Now the party will have problems with its leadership, as Grigory Yavlinsky actually sank 'Yabloko' in these elections and should be replaced," he said.
"With regard to the other parties, 'A Fair Russia' has been dealt a serious blow, as they currently have to deal with their sponsors, because a number of businessmen which planned to get into the State Duma did not make it. The Communist Party's situation, in general, is also complex, though less acute," Yevgeny Minchenko said.
"It is easier for the Liberal Democratic Party, because it has fewer losses in comparison to the previous elections. The party had less sponsors, because the Liberal Democratic Party made a bid on the federal broadcasts and Zhirinovsky [the leader of the party]. And for the 'United Russia' the 400 million rubles decline in funding does not change anything," the President of the Minchenko Consulting Communication Group concluded.
The Director of the Center for Political Information, Alexei Mukhin expects that now the parties would reduce the number of projects and will spend money more carefully. "In fact, this is good news. In addition, the parties will have to optimize their work with sponsors," he said.
"The 'United Russia' party will be least affected: it compensates the losses as much as possible, especially since it has no problem with sponsors. 'Yabloko' will have to focus on the regional level and be useful to certain groups of influence in order to normalize its financial status. The Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and 'A Fair Russia' should seriously optimize their work with sponsors, otherwise they run a risk of looking very pale, and next elections they will be in a risk zone," Alexei Mukhin predicts.
