The PSC is the party that, by far, has allocated the most resources to the 12-M electoral campaign. In total, 2.5 million euros. A figure that is well above the 1.7 that both Junts and ERC have spent. In fourth position, very little below, is the PPC, which claims to have disbursed 1.6 million for the electoral race. Vox, for its part, has allocated a total of 1.2. And far below, in the queue in electoral spending, is the Comuns Sumar candidacy, with 600,000 euros, and the CUP list with 400,000. Ciudadanos did not want to make public the budget of its campaign.
The PSC has skyrocketed electoral spending for this campaign, reaching 2.5 million euros, including sending electoral propaganda. In 2021, in a campaign marked by the pandemic, he spent 2 million and in the previous ones, the 2017 elections, he allocated a budget of 1.7 million.
The preferred event format for the PSC has been the rally. The socialists have replicated the same campaign event profile in all the cities they have visited, with hundreds of attendees at each call. All rallies are indoor spaces, such as auditoriums, theaters or pavilions, except for the rally with Pedro Sánchez in Montmeló, which was outside.
On the other hand, the format of addressing the media with questions has not been a priority for the socialists, who have only asked one on the occasion of the May 1 demonstration. Questions have also been asked at the press conferences organized by the Agència Catalana de Noticias (ACN) and EFE, as well as at a conference called by the Societat Econòmica Barcelonesa de Amics del País.
ERC’s campaign budget for 12-M is 1,700,000 euros, including the sending of electoral propaganda, which amounts to 620,000 euros. As for the type of events, the Republicans are betting on rallies in the afternoon (some also in the morning) with the public and in large format, and press conferences to address more sectoral issues. Apart from the circuit that candidate Aragonès takes throughout Catalonia, the party also holds several events throughout the country with other candidates, as well as the heads of the list from the rest of the districts. These are street rallies here. The Aragonès circuit also includes some walks.
The Junts PuigdemontxCatalunya candidacy also has a campaign budget of around 1.7 million euros, including electoral mailings. A good part of the resources are for the rental of the Jean Carrère space, the Argelès pavilion where they hold all their rallies, press conferences and sectoral events, all in the same place. Also for the rental of the six buses that transport militants and sympathizers from all over Catalonia every day. On the outskirts of the venue, the candidature has set up a “leisure space” with camping tables, food trucks, table football and targets.
The PPC has a budget of 1,600,000 euros for the electoral campaign, including the item for sending postal mail, which amounts to 489,000 euros. They estimate that 800,000 euros are eligible for subsidies and, for the moment, they have covered this part through a loan. The rest of the money is completed with its own funds, as indicated by the party.
Despite insisting at the beginning that they wanted to “take the streets,” a large part of the PPC events have been in closed or private places such as hotels, companies or similar spaces. On some occasions they have held open-air rallies such as the opening of the campaign in Castelldefels or an event with the president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, in Plaza Artós in Barcelona, ??a space where far-right groups have traditionally gathered. .
For its part, Vox has a campaign budget of 1.2 million euros which, according to party sources, is mainly used for advertising and organizing small-format events. This amount includes the sending of electoral propaganda. In this campaign where he aspires to maintain the advantage over the PP, Santiago Abascal’s party is committed to focusing resources on street rallies, most of them in towns in the metropolitan area of ??Barcelona and municipalities with a lot of immigration, such as Salt. The events have a few dozen chairs and stages that are set up and taken down in an hour.
The estimated budget for the Comuns Sumar confluence campaign amounts to 600,000 euros, about 325,000 correspond to ordinary expenses and 276,000 to expenses for sending electoral propaganda. The candidacy emphasizes that “unlike other parties that go into debt with financial entities to pay for the campaign”, Comuns Sumar will assume all expenses through microloans and donations, the electoral advance and the commons’ own financial resources.
The candidacy led by Jéssica Albiach is committed to mostly small-format events, with numbers of attendees that on most days range from fifty to a hundred people. The exception was the rally with the second vice president of the Government and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, on the first Sunday of the campaign in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, where there were more than 300. Díaz is also expected to support Albiach in a large rally. closing of the campaign this Friday in Cornellà de Llobregat. The formation expects this rally to be massive, although it will be difficult to exceed the 3,000 that Díaz gathered at the close of the campaign for the Spanish elections last summer in Farga de L’Hospitalet.
The CUP has allocated a total of 404,725 euros to the campaign, more than half of which corresponds to electoral mailings, about 215,000 euros. The anti-capitalists detail their electoral budget by items: 40,500 euros for events; 347,025 for communication, advertising and press; another 132,025 for advertising and press; 9,000 euros for those released; 8,200 euros for administrative expenses, 8,000 for management and 200 euros for bank commissions. To pay the budget, the party has made a contribution of 400,000 euros and the remaining 4,725 come from donations.
As for the types of events, the majority are on the street except in cases of forecast rain. About fifty people usually attend. On weekends it is common that after the event there is a musical vermouth with a DJ or a musical performance. They are territorial events: one in each capital: Tarragona (first weekend), Girona (second weekend – central event), Lleida (Friday, May 9) and Barcelona (closing of the campaign). On the other hand, in the mornings they hold press conferences mostly in Barcelona to present proposals on a specific topic such as feminism, energy or housing.
For his part, Cs did not want to make his campaign budget public and only explains that it is adjusted to the current reality of the party. The Cs campaign, for example, does not have the traditional campaign bus and has not held rallies, beyond the central event that brought together 200 people on a terrace in the Port del Fòrum. His events were mainly daily meetings with the media.
