The Ministry of Interior and Municipalities - Electoral Supervisory Authority issued a statement numbered 16, containing instructions from the Electoral Supervisory Authority regarding the practical procedures related to electoral spending, which must be included in the comprehensive accounting statement for candidates and electoral lists in Lebanese pounds.
**First: Procedures Related to Expenses for Transportation of Voters:**
Article 58 of the Law on the Election of Members of the House of Representatives No. 44/2017 considers expenses related to the transportation of voters as electoral spending. Accordingly, the Electoral Supervisory Authority informs all candidates in the parliamentary elections at different stages, political parties, electoral lists, and the political entities to which the candidate belongs of the following:
Every candidate must declare the expenses incurred if they individually organize the transportation of their supporters. If the organization of transportation is at the expense of the electoral lists or parties or political entities to which the candidate belongs, then the expenses arising from this task must be distributed evenly among the candidates from those concerned entities in the relevant electoral district.
In this context, the Electoral Supervisory Authority reminds the candidates, electoral lists, or political entities that the electoral law does not differentiate between expenses incurred by candidates for transporting their supporters within Lebanese territory and for organizing their transportation from outside Lebanon at their own expense. Therefore, every candidate and list must include all expenses they incur from transporting voters, both domestically and from abroad, in their final comprehensive report, and calculate these expenses within the limits of their electoral expenditures.
The candidate's attendance at honorific invitations, meals, or any occasion held by friends at their personal expense is considered a contribution from the inviting party in favor of the benefiting team and must be declared to this authority, estimating its cost and reflecting it in the candidate's comprehensive accounting statement.
**Second: Calculation of Electoral Advertising and Promotion Expenses:**
1. All expenses for advertisements that highlight the candidate or list in image, text, or both are counted among the candidate's or list's electoral spending.
2. Expenses for any advertisement mentioning the electoral list anywhere in Lebanon are counted for each member of the declared electoral list, even if their names and images are not included or if only the list's name and the image of its head appear.
3. Expenses for any advertisement mentioning the political entity anywhere in Lebanon are counted for each member of any political entity, even if the names and images of the candidate members are not included or if an image of leader(s) from this entity appears, whether they are candidates or not.
4. Any advertisement for a political party in any location in Lebanon using the party's name, logo, color, or symbol is counted in the electoral spending of all declared candidates belonging to that political party.
5. Any electoral advertisement in any location in Lebanon for a trend or coalition of political parties or currents counts towards the electoral expenses of the declared candidates from those entities throughout Lebanon.
6. A candidate's ownership of a free personal account on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or others is classified as media mentioned in the electoral law and is subject to electoral spending rules.
**Third: Nature of Some Expenses Incurred by the Candidate or List During the Electoral Campaign:**
1. **Providing Food and Refreshments on Election Day:** The authority considers that providing food and refreshments on election day for campaign workers, representatives, and volunteers is included within the candidate's electoral ceiling, and they must declare these expenses and account for them accordingly.
2. **Status of Posters, Printed Materials, and Candidate Photos Prepared and Paid for Before Candidacy:** The authority views that posters, printed materials, and candidate photos prepared and paid for prior to the candidacy date are counted as electoral expenses if used during the candidate's campaign period, that is, after submitting their candidacy request, and must be declared accordingly.
3. **Status of Electoral Offices:** The authority asserts that candidates and lists must account for the rent of electoral offices leased by them for the entire campaign period from the official candidacy submission date until the closing of the ballot boxes, as well as the registration date of the list. Electoral offices provided without rent should be considered as contributions made by other individuals to finance the electoral campaign, which must be declared and included within the maximum expenditure ceiling allowed for each candidate or list during the campaign period, according to the provisions of Articles 56, 57, and 58 of the parliamentary elections law.
4. **In-Kind and Monetary Assistance Provided by Candidates Who Have Been Doing So Regularly for No Less Than Three Years:** The authority considers that in-kind and monetary assistance to individuals, charitable or social organizations, cultural and family entities, religious institutions, sports clubs, and all unofficial institutions outside the prohibition mentioned in paragraph one of Article 62 is that provided by candidates or institutions owned or managed by candidates who have regularly done so for at least three years prior to the start of the campaign period, provided these contributions are consistent, stable, and maintain a similar level concerning quantity and type, along with the resulting expenses. The donating parties are responsible for proving the regular continuity of these contributions as stipulated in Article 62 of the parliamentary elections law, and any disputes related to them are subject to the scrutiny of the Electoral Supervisory Authority.
5. Any gift, donation, cash or in-kind grant, loan, advance, or financial payment of any monetary value given to the candidate or list is considered a contribution within the meaning of this law.
**Fourth: Determining How to Calculate Candidates' Expenses and Each's Share of the Total Amounts Resulting from Advertising and Electoral Promotions by Entities or Political Parties or Electoral Lists Joined After Their Candidacy Submission:** The authority states that any amounts paid as substitutes for broadcasting or publishing advertisements or electoral promotions by political entities, parties, or electoral lists that the candidate subsequently joins should be counted as part of the candidate's electoral spending, even if not announced at the time of nomination. The candidate must bear their calculated share of these expenses starting from the nomination date, and expenses resulting from any individual activity carried out independently of the list must be included in their electoral spending limit.
All expenses paid to cover electoral activities for candidates and electoral lists, whether incurred domestically or abroad, must be declared in the comprehensive accounting statement, calculated in Lebanese pounds as per the contents of the statement issued by the authority under Number 8 dated April 1, 2022.
