Budget for 2015 elections set at NIS 242 million

Central Elections Committee says sum is 5 million shekels less than in 2013 vote

The Central Elections Committee announced Tuesday that the budget allocated for the March 17 elections would stand at NIS 242 million ($62.04 million), NIS 5 million ($1.28 million) less than for the run-up to the polls in January 2013.

The committee is made up of Knesset members and delegates of political parties and is overseen by a Supreme Court justice. The body is responsible for running the national elections, including approving which parties will run, authorizing elections financing and tallying and publishing poll results.

Election campaigns in Israel are almost entirely publicly funded, with foreign donations allowed only during internal party primaries.

Earlier this year, several political parties including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, which ran on a joint ticket with Yisrael Beytenu, were slammed for lavish spending prior to the elections in 2013.

A State Comptroller’s report published in February found that Israel’s many factions finished the 2013 elections campaign with a combined deficit of some NIS 60 million ($17 million), with Likud, Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua and Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home among the worst offenders.

The report, written by retired judge Yosef Shapira, took aim especially at a pre-election Likud gala that featured popular pop singer Sarit Hadad, which is said to have cost over NIS 1 million (some $350,000) including the entertainer’s NIS 80,000 fee (over $22,000).

“There is no place for grand, luxurious conferences on the taxpayer’s dime,” Shapira wrote.

Hatnua and Jewish Home were fined for overspending.