Incredible! How much a politician can spend in the election campaign: financial debunking

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Politicians who enter the electoral race can spend in a month more than a Romanian paid the minimum wage would earn, if he lived two lives and saved all the money received. The law sets maximum spending thresholds in electoral campaigns, by reference to the minimum gross salary, and is very generous with a certain category of candidates.

Currently, the minimum gross salary is 3,300 lei, equivalent to 660 euros.

According to the law, those running for the European Parliament elections can spend the most money. It’s about 750 of minimum gross salaries for each candidate aiming for a European deputy mandate.

That means a maximum ceiling 2,475,000 lei or almost half a million euros for a future MEP. An employee paid the minimum wage ends up earning, cumulatively, this amount in 62.5 years of work. I mean, basically, in two lives.

In local elections, the amounts allowed by law for the campaign decrease significantly.

The amounts allowed by law continue to decrease for the mayors of the county seat municipalities, for the mayors of municipalities, cities and communes, as follows:

• 50 gross minimum basic salaries or 33,000 euros/candidate for the position of mayor of the county seat municipality
• 10 gross minimum basic salaries or 6,600 euros/candidate for the position of municipal mayor
• 7 gross minimum basic salaries or 4,620 euros/candidate for the position of city mayor
• 5 gross minimum basic salaries or 3,300 euros/candidate for the position of mayor of the commune

Practically, the candidate aiming for the mayor’s office of a Romanian municipality must manage in the campaign with a total sum of 16,500 of lions.