site.btaPolitical Formations Focus Heavily on Advertising in First Ten Days of Campaign

An analysis by the Institute for Public Environment Development (IPED) shows that in the first ten days of the run-up to the local elections, the parliamentary formations spent the most on advertising. The media spending of four of the formations accounted for 60% of the total media advertising spending to date.

IPED notes that media coverage of candidates account for the largest share of total campaign spending.

In the current campaign, the Central Election Commission (CEC) registered 58 parties and 9 coalitions. All formations can join local coalitions and so the municipal election commissions in the 265 municipalities have registered dozens more, along with independent candidates for mayor and municipal councillors put forward by initiative committees.

IPED will be tracking various indices such as the resources formations spend on advertising during a campaign that comes only six months after the last round of general elections in this country, and the transparency of contracts regulating media coverage, among others. The IPED will be monitoring the official websites of 39 national and regional media - 9 TV stations, 3 radio stations, 11 newspapers and 16 news websites and agencies.

Biggest spenders on advertising

In the first ten days of the campaign, 40 formations spent a total of BGN 830,635, VAT excluded.

GERB ranks first with BGN 220,005, VAT excluded, followed by Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria with BGN 93,630, Vazrazhdane with BGN 92,703 and BSP for Bulgaria with BGN 91,386.

Thus, the media spending of these four formations accounts for 60% of the total funds invested in media advertising so far.