Moscow mayoral elections in 2023 will be twice as expensive as in 2018

The Moscow City Election Commission (MGIK) on Monday approved the cost estimate for the election of the mayor of the capital. This year they will cost the budget twice as much as in 2018. However, over the past five years there have been significant changes in the electoral process, in particular, voting has become multi-day and a remote format has appeared. Multi-day voting led to an increase in the cost of salaries of members of election commissions: if in 2018 380 million rubles were spent on paying their labor, then this year 601.8 million are already planned. At the same time, the IPCC intends to reduce their office expenses.

At a meeting on July 10, the IPCC approved the cost estimate for the upcoming September mayoral elections in Moscow. They will amount to more than 1.2 billion rubles, which is twice as much as in the previous elections-2018, for which 572.4 million rubles were allocated.

It should be noted that over the past five years, the conditions for holding elections for the mayor of the capital have changed significantly. Voting will now last three days instead of one, remote electronic voting has appeared. Also, the polling stations will not have the usual KOIBs: in Moscow, they will be replaced by new electronic voting terminals. In addition, by the 2023 elections, the number of polling stations themselves has been reduced from 3.4 thousand to 2 thousand.

For the first time, the amount of 1.2 billion rubles. for the election of the mayor of Moscow was included in the city budget for 2022 and the planning period of 2023–2024, and even then experts suggested that the voting would be three days, which would also lead to an increase in costs, primarily for salaries.

Indeed, in the approved budget, 1.1 billion rubles were allocated for lower election commissions. (with 94 million rubles for the needs of the MGIK itself), of which 556.1 million rubles are for compensation and additional wages at night and weekends for members of precinct commissions, and 45.7 million rubles for members of territorial election commissions (TECs) . In the 2018 estimate, 357.9 million and 22 million rubles were planned for this item of expenditure. respectively. Additional remuneration of members and employees of the Moscow State Institute of Cinematography, judging by the estimate, will cost 72.6 million rubles. against 27.5 million rubles. in 2018. The amount for the purchase of “other material assets” for TECs and PECs will also increase significantly – 1.5 million rubles. instead of 133 thousand rubles. in 2018.

At the same time, the cost of producing printed materials and stationery will be significantly reduced.

If in 2018 16 million rubles were spent on printed materials, and 189 thousand rubles were spent on office expenses, then in 2023 11.3 million and 71.4 thousand rubles were allocated for this. respectively.

At the same time, the estimate does not contain data on the allocation of funds to TECs for paper for printing voter lists, for which almost 433 thousand rubles were allocated in 2018. This is probably due to the fact that since 2022 Moscow has been using an electronic voter list.

At a meeting on July 10, the IPCC also registered the first candidate: it was the current mayor Sergei Sobyanin, who was the first to submit documents and signatures of municipal deputies in his support. In total, according to the MGIK, only 5 out of 12 nominated candidates handed over the signatures of the municipalities. In addition to Mr. Sobyanin, these are Moscow City Duma deputy Leonid Zyuganov (KPRF), State Duma deputy Dmitry Gusev (A Just Russia – For Truth), as well as State Duma vice-speakers Boris Chernyshov (LDPR) and Vladislav Davankov (New People). Verification of documents and registration must be completed by July 17.

Elena Rozhkova