The Requirements of Public Funding ofElection Campaign in light of General Policies of Elections

Abstract

Financing of the election campaign, which refers to all financial resources obtained and expenses m ade legally, both cash and non-cash, related to an election, either by the candidate himself or by others for electoral purposes, is one of the important dimensions of the election legal system in the world, which in addition to private financing, it can also be realized through “public” funding. “The general policies of the elections” announced in 2016, along with the pathology of Iran's election system, has mentioned the requirements of campaign finance in several paragraphs. This paper seeks to answer the question of what requirements these policies needregarding the “public” finance. The findings of this research, using a descriptive-analytical method show that based on the general policies of the elections, the public finance system in Iran should be “indirect”, “free”,“equal”, necessarily specified for a certain amount of time (election advertising period) and it should exist or be created in all elections including the presidency, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Islamic councils of cities and villages, and the Assembly of Experts for Leadership, according to the available facilities and the conditions of each election, and as a result, it also has the capacity of diversity in methods in the mentioned framework.

Keywords

• the election campaign
• public funding
• the general policies of the elections
• campaign expenses
• direct and indirect funding