The mammoth cost of US elections in context

The huge costs involved in even trying to become elected as President of the United States of America are well known. But how do these astronomical sums compare to elections in other democracies? German newspaper Handelsblatt crunched the numbers and found that the 2.3 billion pounds projected to be splashed during the current presidential campaign in the States really does dwarf the likes of the UK, Germany and France.

Of the elections analysed, the UK had the second highest costs. The 2015 general election cost a total of 71 million pounds when taking all parties and candidates into account. France and Germany had similar total, 55 and 54 million respectively, while the most frugal of the countries was Japan. At 9 million pounds, that works out at 18 pence per vote compared to the dizzying 18 pounds spent on each ballot paper in the US.