Spending on promoting regional party list candidates counts towards the party campaign spending limit, and must be reported by the party.1
Candidates standing on a regional party list may incur personal expenses. These expenses will only count towards the party spending limit if the party reimburses the candidate for the personal expenses.
Regional party list candidates must give a written statement to their agent of personal expenses paid within 21 days of the election result being declared,2
and submit a declaration to the Regional Returning Officer confirming their personal expenses within 35 days after the day on which the result is declared.3
For personal expenses for constituency and dual candidates, please see the candidate guidance.
Dual candidacy
Candidates can stand as a regional party list candidate and also as a constituency candidate for the Scottish Parliamentary election. We call this “dual candidacy”.
Regional party list candidates standing on a party list do not have a separate candidate spending limit, unless they stand as a constituency candidate at the same time. A dual candidate will have a separate spending limit for any constituency campaigning within the constituency that they are contesting.
Constituency candidate spending
There is separate legislation governing spending promoting particular constituency candidates at a Scottish Parliamentary election.
Constituency candidates standing for your party will appoint agents, who are responsible for the candidate’s spending and must report it in a return after the election.
Identifying party and candidate spending
Sometimes you may need to decide whether campaign spending should count towards the party spending limit, or the spending limit of a candidate standing for your party in a particular constituency.
Campaign spending does not count against both the party and candidate spending limits. It will usually fall into one category or the other.
Political parties support their candidates in various ways. This may have to be reported in different ways, depending on what you do. Since often it must be reported by the candidate and agent, this is covered in more detail in the candidate guidance.
First, you should identify if your activity promotes a particular constituency candidate during the candidate regulated period. If it does, then the next question is how the spending must be reported. This depends on the candidate's or agent's link to the activity.