In practice, the Prime Minister will generally keep a campaign as brief as is legal and feasible, because spending by parties is strictly limited by the Elections Act. The maximum spending by each party is increased by 1/37th of the maximum for each day that the campaign exceeds 37 days. The 1997, 2000 and 2004 elections were all of the minimum 36 days in length which has led to a common misconception that elections "must" be 36 days long. However, prior to 1997, elections averaged much longer: aside from the 47-day campaign for the 1993 election, the shortest election period after World War II was 57 days and many were over 60 days in length.