Policy and legal principles of state financing of political parties in Ukraine

The article analyzes the political and legal principles of state funding for political parties in Ukraine, in particular, the development of the legislative framework governing the provision and use of state budget funds by political parties in Ukraine. The current Ukrainian legislation on financing of political parties is considered, the amounts of financing are given, the evaluations of politicians and experts on the volume of financing and the principles of selection of political parties entitled to state financing of their activity are given. For comparison, examples of state funding for political parties in other countries are grouped into three systems, where only those parties that did not enter the national parliament, who received and are funded in proportion to the mandates received, and those who participated in the elections are funded.Budget expenditures by political parties are analyzed and their efficiency is measured. Most political parties spent budgetary funds on advocacy, cell retention, wages for workers, office rents, and material costs. There was practically no political funding for the political parties to improve the ideological component of the party’s activities, to develop programs, strategies, party policies, and no funds were allocated for research, including sociological ones.The results of the elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in 2019 and the response of civil society to the activities of those political parties eligible for public funding were considered, as a result of which the petition was submitted to the President of Ukraine and changes were made to the legislation that lists the parties entitled to state funding. funding, was limited to only those who won the election. Conclusions and recommendations for further improvement of legislation in the field of financing the activities of political parties in Ukraine are offered.