Country:
Russia
Organization:
Golos - open source data
Year:
2018
Election Type:
Presidential
Recommending Organization:
Golos - open source data
Disclaimer:
Golos had to cancel its membership of the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) due to EPDE being listed as an "undesirable foreign organization" in Russia in March 2018. Due to this we exclusively evaluate open source information regarding election observation in Russia.
Primary Thematic Area:
Campaign financing
Subtopic of primary thematic area:
Donations
Recommendation:
The system of government financing of political parties has to be substantially revised in order to stimulate grassroots engagement and intensification of voter outreach. In order to do this, a possible solution may be to replace direct government financing of political parties and civil society institutions with an introduction of a selective tax that would allow citizens to independently direct a share of their taxes to support a specific party, NPO, or religious organization. In particular, the government may allow citizens to independently manage 0.5% of their personal income tax (this is approximately equal to the amounts that the state currently spends to support parties and NPOs), on the condition that it works out the mechanism for compensation of the lost tax incomes to the local and regional budgets, as well as the taxpayer’s ability to transfer the money to the specific regional branch of the organization. This will create competition not just for votes, but for the voters’ money
Action required:
Legal change
Degree of Recommendation's Priority / Urgency / Relevance:
Medium
Body / Institution Responsible for Implementation:
Parliament
Implementation Status:
Not implemented