Paragraph 34

 

An amendment to Article 77.1, which currently requires equal conditions for the conduct of the campaign on all media receiving funds from the State, limits the application of Article 77.1 to “public TV and radio companies”, thereby excluding the current State funded TV and radio from the article’s application. The authorities in Azerbaijan have explained that this amendment is made in anticipation of the enactment of new legislation regulating “public TV and radio” and that the new sentence “No election campaign is conducted by the TV and Radio companies that belong to the State” address any concern about the exclusion of State funded TV and radio from the article. Although the amendment could be evaluated again when new media legislation is enacted, in the meantime, State TV and radio remain important media outlets that should meet the same obligations in campaign coverage as Public TV and radio and, therefore, should remain within the terms of Article 77.1. The current amendment would limit the scope of election-related information and political views available to voters, which are crucial in order for voters to make informed choices on election day. This is especially true in view of amendments limiting the length of the official campaign period. The amendment cannot be considered as positive.