by Daniele Bovi
As we know, money doesn’t bring happiness – not even electoral happiness – but it certainly gives you a good hand if you want to be elected. While it may seem cynical to link the number of votes to the amount of money spent, on the other hand it would be very naive to think that they are an irrelevant variable, even if there is no shortage of successful cases of David against Goliath. Between spin doctors, surveys, posters, holy cards, sails, lunches, dinners, aperitifs, reimbursements, staff, advertising, sponsorships on social media and errands, burning many thousands of euros in a few days is child’s play.
THE MAP: VOTERS IN PERUGIA DISTRICT BY DISTRICT
The rules Mayoral candidates and aspiring city councilors must respect spending ceilings but, as usual in Italy, thanks to the abolition of public financing and not only there is no shortage of gray areas. The matter of expenses is regulated by a mix of laws that date back to 1993 (the year from which the direct election of mayors began) and 2012. The mayoral candidates of a city like Perugia, which falls in the range between 100 thousand and 500 thousand inhabitants can spend a maximum of 125 thousand euros, plus a variable quota equal to one euro for each registered voter; taking into account that those from Perugia are 130 thousand, the ceiling is 255 thousand euros. For many a very distant mirage.
NEW REGULAR PLAN, HOW PERUGIA HAS CHANGED IN THE LAST DECADES
The figures As regards the candidates for the city council, however, the ceiling is 12,500 euros plus five cents for each voter, for a total therefore which in Perugia would be 19 thousand euros. For parties and civic lists the ceiling is one euro for each voter, therefore 130 thousand euros. Also in this case, figures that many will not even see in their dreams. If each candidate wants to spend an amount exceeding 2,500 euros – below this threshold it is almost impossible to set up a minimally effective electoral campaign – he must appoint an electoral agent who will use a single current account.
Reports Within three months of the election, the elected representatives must present a report to the president of the municipal council and to the regional electoral guarantee board, a body to which even non-elected candidates must present all the documentation; parties and lists are required to submit a final balance to the Court of Auditors and the Central Electoral Office within 45 days of taking office. All expenses relating to materials, advertising, posters, events, staff, services received and so on must be reported in the documents. For candidates who do not deposit them, the fines range from 25 thousand to 103 thousand euros. However, if the spending limits are exceeded, it works like this: the Electoral College of Guarantee applies a sanction between the amount that exceeds the limit and its triple, but if this limit is exceeded by at least double, the forfeiture is triggered.
Costs But how much does an electoral campaign cost in Perugia? For a national level communications agency able to support a mayoral candidate, we are talking about four-figure figures. The 6×3 and billboard spaces in the city are partly managed by private individuals and partly by Dogre, the municipality’s concessionaire for the billboard service. For private individuals we are talking about around 300-400 euros per 6×3 for a week, but with variables relating to the position of the system and other characteristics (such as lighting for example). As regards Dogre, the posting fee must be paid, approximately 100 euros for each 6×3 for a period of 15 days. At the beginning of March, when Vittoria Ferdinandi entered the field and with the centre-right having started well in advance, the spaces had logically been occupied for months; those free were only a handful.
From sails to holy cards The so-called electoral sails, the small vans around the city with the faces and slogans of the candidates, are very expensive. The price is around 100 euros per day, a little more if the candidate’s big face travels with the driver along a pre-established route. To effectively cover an area – even taking into account the size of Perugia – at least two would be needed: in summary, two sails around the city for a week cost almost 1,500 euros. Then there is the forest of printing presses and services also provided online: for example, for 15 thousand holy cards and brochures, if you choose a local company, even 600-700 euros could be enough; obviously, the more they ask for the more the price can drop. And then there are the advertising spaces on buses, those in newspapers, sponsorships on social media and shipments of materials to mailboxes.
Expenses Food is another great protagonist of electoral campaigns. Those who can organize subscription dinners, others start hunting for votes by offering aperitifs, lunches and dinners in hotels, restaurants, golf clubs, bars, clubs and so on: «For me – says a candidate councilor – it is impossible to think of organizing events elections in a club and not offer anything. How much have I spent so far? Very. Just one dinner cost me 3,200 euros, in a few days I’ll offer an aperitif for another 400 euros. Today between petrol, coffee and aperitifs I will have spent 150 to meet a handful of people”. Those who can hire staff to take care of communication and secretarial services, guaranteeing at least reimbursements to those who carry the material around. For others, especially for those who can count on a structured party network, there are at least the parachutes of volunteers and places in which to organize meetings and initiatives.
Who spends and who doesn’t In short, many of the more structured candidates who believe they can win a place in the chamber invest significant sums to obtain preferences; for many others, however, the electoral campaign is necessarily low cost, especially when there are not great hopes of obtaining a seat and when one does not have large means, neither personal nor party-related. For those who have potential financiers behind them, there are gray areas or the possibility of circumventing the ceilings.
Gray areas Theoretically, the contributions or services that come from natural persons or from different subjects, such as companies, should also be reported in the reports. «However, if, for example, you have third parties purchase services such as typography, the setting up of a stage, a survey and so on – he tells Umbria24 Dino Amenduni, one of the partners of the Proforma agency for which he deals with political communication and strategic planning – it becomes complicated to understand who paid them, to whom and in what way; unless you sift through invoice by invoice.” Instead, understanding, if necessary, who finances an electoral campaign would allow us to guarantee a further level of transparency and accountability. Beyond Perugia, the incontrovertible fact is that politics needs money and that a decade after the abolition of public financing by the Renzi government, the transparency problem is far from resolved. And the Liguria case does not seem to have taught anything at least for the moment.
