Center candidates invested most from personal funds on election campaign
Of all the candidates, who ran in the recent Riigikogu elections, those from them the Center Party made the most significant personal contributions to their campaigns. The biggest spender of all was Tallinn Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart.
Candidates in the Riigikogu elections began declaring their campaign expenditure amounts to the Political Party Funding Supervision Committee (ERJK), As of Wednesday, the reports for the Center Party, Eesti 200, the Social Democratic Party (SDE), Parempoolsed and the United Left Party EÜVP) had been made public.
In their election campaign reports, parties include the expenses of those who stood as candidates on their party lists and those who spent their own funds on the campaign. Party expenditure is only included in the quarterly income and expenditure statements.
Center Party candidates spent a total of just over €378,000 of their own money on the election campaign, €62,000 of which was still outstanding at the time of reporting.
The biggest spender was Tallinn Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart, who laid out a total of €28,000 on his campaign. The majority of this went on outdoor advertising and the printing of promotional materials. Kõlvart received 14,592 votes in the election, coming second only to Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform). However, he opted not to take up his seat in the new Riigikogu.
€15,000 of the money Kõlvart contributed to his campaign was donated by his sister Olga Tjugai, the rest came from his own personal funds.
After Kõlvart, was Mayor of Mustamäe Lauri Laats, who spent €27,000 during the campaign. The majority of that also went on advertising. Laats received 5,982 votes and was elected to the Riigikogu.
Kaido Höövelson, who stood in Ida-Viru County this time round but failed to get reelected, spent €22,805, mainly on press and outdoor advertising.
Priit Toobal, who got 516 votes in Järva and Viljandi counties, spent around €20,000 on the campaign and Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart, who won a Riigikogu seat, spent €16,00.
Meanwhile, Marek Jürgenson spent €15,500 and Dmitri Dmitrjev laid out €13,000.
Candidates from other parties spent less
Eesti 200's candidates spent a total of just over €57,000. €50,000 went on advertising.
Külli Tammuri was the Eesti 200 candidate, who spent the most (€12,200), with Denis Larchenko shelling out almost €6,500, Peeter Tali €5,400 and Maksim Ilyin €500. Of these, only Tali was elected.
SDE candidates spent nearly €25,000 altogether. The majority of this was spent on advertising, of which €9,000 was for printed advertising.
Kajar Lember spent almost €5,500, Silver Tambur €4,500, Marina Kaljurand 3€,700 and Karmo Kuri €3,200. Of these, only Kaljurand was elected to the Riigikogu.
Parempoolsed spent almost €5,700 of their personal funds on the campaign. Andres Laisk contributed the most with €3,000 while Tõnu Aigro put up €1,400.
The candidates of the United Left Party spent €2,400 in total, with the bulk also going on advertising. The biggest spender was Aleksei Teterev, who splashed out €1,200, while the party's other candidates each spent less than €400.
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Editor: Michael Cole