August 22, 2024, 4:02 AM
August 22, 2024, 4:02 AM
The budget for the judicial elections The cost of the 1st of December —calculated more than a year ago— will increase because the payment to suppliers of materials and logistics is endorsed in dollars. The process will now cost the State Bs 230 million, Bs 46 million more than the amount planned in 2023, when the legal deadline for electing magistrates expired.
With the increase estimated at 20%these fairs will be more expensive than the 2020 general electionswhen Luis Arce was elected president, after the 2019 crisis.
Electoral member Tahuichi Tahuichi explained that the adjustment in the budget is due to the “increased costs and logistics” that is needed to develop judicial elections. “The budget for the judicial elections starts from an amount of Bs 184 million, established in 2023, when those elections should have been held; now, dDue to increased costs and logistics, we are making a readjustment which will rise to Bs 230 millions,” Tahuichi said.
The judicial elections were scheduled for December 1 of this year and, according to their electoral calendar, There are 36 activities until voting day, One of them is mass registration which will take place until August 30th.
The vice president of the TSE, Francisco Vargas, said that the increase is also due to the number of candidates rose from 96 to 139.
This budget (of Bs 184 million) was prepared in 2023, in which a forecast of 96 candidates was taken into account; however, the Assembly has increased the candidates for more than 100 (139), then, as there are more candidates, more space is needed in the media. for the dissemination of merits.
In addition, he explained, “some products and supplies that the Electoral Body works with” for an electoral process, “may have increased in price.”
High costs
In the last four electoral processes the State spent Bs 681 millionThe failed 2019 general elections had a budget of Bs 240 million, with a detail that the latest budgets do not have: there was financing for political parties. In addition, compatriots in other nations participated.
In 2019 there was another expenditure component: the first primary elections in the political parties. For these elections the State spent Bs 27 million, so that that year the total expenditure on elections was Bs 267 million.
In the October 2020 elections, the budget was Bs 215 million. This amount included the votes cast by compatriots abroad, as required by the Electoral Regime Law. There were no primary elections.
Meanwhile, the expenditure for the subnational elections of March 7, 2021, the approved budget was Bs 199 million.
Adding up all these processes, the country spent those Bs 681 million in four electoral processes that took place in recent years. Thus, the upcoming judicial elections will be more expensive than the elections general elections of 2020.
However, the budget for the judiciary does not yet include the referendum that the Government is promoting for the same day. judicial electionsThe electoral body must plan this process and will define the budget that the consultation entails.
