SINN Féin spent more than double that of any other party in the Northern Ireland assembly election in May, new figures reveal.
The Electoral Commission UK yesterday confirmed that the party spent £178,199 during its Stormont election campaign, with Alliance the second biggest spender on £83,166.
The commission said a total of £515,434 was spent by the north's political parties on campaigning during the regulated period, which ran from January 5 2022 to polling day on May 5 2022.
The figures also reveal that Aontú were the third biggest spenders, with £61,385 going towards their election campaign. The party fielded 12 candidates, but none were elected, with the party finishing with 12,777 first preference votes.
The DUP spent £51,916 on its campaign, while the SDLP's spending totalled £41,056.
The Electoral Commission also confirmed that the UUP spent £31,812 on its campaign and People Before Profit spent £29,858, followed closely by the TUV, which spent £29,724.
The figures show that the Greens election spending came to just £6,242.
Jonathan Mitchell from The Electoral Commission for Northern Ireland, said: "It is vital that voters can see clearly and accurately how money is spent to influence them at elections.
"The publication of campaign spending information relating to the Assembly election in May is one of the ways we deliver transparency for voters, which is essential to our democratic process."
