Presidential election spending limit to be gazetted

A Gazette notification will be issued tonight stipulating the maximum amount that a Presidential Candidate can spend on each voter during their election campaigns, the Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake said. 

Accordingly, the maximum amount that each candidate can spend will be gazette as Rs. 109.00 per voter, he said. 

All upcoming national elections will be subject to new campaign finance laws that will limit the amount of funding that candidates, political parties and independent groups can spend on their campaigns.

Ahead of the upcoming presidential election, the Election Commission had met with various stakeholders to brief them on the legislation and obtain their views and suggestions on establishing the spending limit and how to move forward in implementing the laws.

According to the gazette notification, each candidate is allowed to spend a maximum of Rs. 109 per elector for election campaigning activities, totalling Rs. 1,868,298,586 per candidate.

The expenditure limit per candidate has been set at 60 per cent of the total amount, while political party secretaries are allowed 40 per cent for their candidate’s election campaign activities.

The parties must submit expenditure reports to the Elections Commission within 21 days of the election results being declared, the notification stated.

A record number of 39 candidates are contesting the upcoming presidential election.