Running for elections is costly, and candidates usually raise their own funds or receive campaign finance from political parties. Parties choose which candidate to fund, and funding is limited by the party’s previous development efforts. Critics argue that this system favors those who can raise the most money, leading to laws limiting party funding.
Running for popular elections is an expensive undertaking. Advertising, publicity, rallies and professional staffing for an election campaign all cost money. Candidates for office usually have to raise their own money, but they can also get campaign finance from their political party.
Candidates can run independently, but most are part of larger organizations called political parties. These are groups that form around a common set of beliefs about the role of government and the policies that should or should not be implemented for the nation. Political parties perform many functions in supporting both elected officials and candidates for office, including raising funds to be used to get them elected or re-elected.
Parties choose which candidate they will fund in elections for a particular office. It would be a waste of money for political parties if both competing candidates were from the same party. Political parties have different methods of selecting which of their politicians should be chosen to receive funding. These can take the form of primary elections, in which the party itself votes for who it will nominate, or other internal selection procedures.
Political party funding is limited by the amount of money the party itself has raised through various development efforts since previous elections. From this amount, the party must decide how to distribute the funds at each election in which a party member runs. Political party leadership decides how to allocate funds by assessing how important having a party member in a particular office is to the overall party agenda and the likelihood of his candidate winning the race.
Candidates running for top government positions in a country, such as the head of state, usually receive the majority of funding from political parties. Party candidates who run for less important office and are unlikely to win, as well as those in elections where their opponent is unlikely to win, usually receive the least financial support from their party. Party officials rely heavily on polling data to make these decisions.
Allowing political parties to raise their own funds to fund candidates is not universally popular. Critics of this system say it makes elections a question of who can raise the most money instead of a competition for political positions. These critics pass laws that limit the influence of political party funding in elections, such as capping the amount of money parties and candidates can raise and spend on campaigns.
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