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Article 62
 

1. The following shall be regarded as electoral campaign during the conduct of an election campaign:


1) calls for voting for or against a federal list of candidates, or for or against individual candidates on the list, or against all federal lists of candidates;


2) expression of preference for some political party which nominated a federal list of candidates, for some individual candidate(s), in particular, statements indicating the federal list of candidates, candidate(s) for which a voter will vote (unless for publishing of opinion poll results in accordance with part 2 of Article 53 of this Federal Law);


3) description of possible consequences of the election or non-election of a federal list of candidates;


4) dissemination of materials with a marked predominance of the information about some political parties which nominated a federal list of candidates, some candidate(s) with positive or negative comments;


5) dissemination of information about the activities of a candidate unrelated to his/her professional activity or performance of his/her official duties;


6) activity promoting formation of a positive or negative attitude of voters towards a political party which nominated a federal list of candidates, candidate(s);


2. Actions indicated in paragraph 1 of part 1 of this Article, if done by representatives of mass media organizations as their professional duties, shall be deemed electoral campaigning provided such actions are done with a view to encourage voters to vote for or against a federal list of candidates, or for or against some candidate(s), or against all federal lists of candidates. Actions indicated in paragraphs 2-6 of part 1 of this article shall be deemed electoral campaign if done more than once.


3. Election campaigning may be conducted:


1) on TV or radio channels and in the print media;


2) by means of public campaign events;


3) by producing and distributing printed, audio-visual and other campaign materials;


4) by other methods which are not prohibited by law.


4. Electoral campaign on TV and radio channels and in the print media shall be conducted in the form of public debates, discussions, roundtables, press conferences, interviews, speeches, demonstration of TV stories and video films about political parties which registered federal lists of candidates, about registered candidates, and in other forms which are not prohibited by law.


5. A political party which nominated a federal list of candidates shall be entitled at its own discretion to select the contents, form and methods of its election campaign, do electoral campaign and involve other persons therein in the procedure established by the law of the Russian Federation.


6. Electoral campaign can be done on behalf of a political party by candidates on its federal list, persons empowered therewith as well as proxies and agents of a respective political party (hereinafter – agents of a political party).


7. No election campaign shall be conducted and no kind of campaign materials shall be produced and distributed by:


1) state bodies , other state bodies, bodies of local government;


2) persons who hold state or elected municipal office, who are state or municipal servicemen, persons who hold executive office in organizations regardless of their legal status (in organizations whose supreme body is a general meeting, - in governance bodies thereof), with an exception of political parties when discharging their official duties by taking advantage of their office and official position;


3) military units, military institutions and organizations;


4) charity and religious organizations and organizations founded by them as well as members and representatives of religious associations when they are performing rites and ceremonies;


5) election commissions and voting members thereof;


6) foreign nationals, stateless persons and foreign entities;


7) international organizations and international public movements;


8) representatives of mass media organizations when they are engaged in their professional activities.


9) persons in respect of whom during the ongoing election campaign a court established a violation of the restrictions imposed by paragraph 1 of Article 56 of the Federal Law "On Basic Guarantees".


8. Involvement of campaigning of persons under age of 18 years as of voting day, including the use of pictures and statements of such persons in campaign materials, shall be prohibited.


8.1 The use of statements by individual who do not have the right to conduct election campaign in accordance with this Federal law, about the political party that nominated the list of candidates, candidates in single-mandate electoral districts, about the candidate (candidates) in the election campaign materials shall be prohibited.


9.The use of statements by individual not referred to in paragraph 8.1 of this Article about the political party that nominated the list of candidates, candidates in single-mandate electoral districts, about the candidate (candidates) shall be only permitted upon obtaining of written consent of the individual in question. The document confirming such consent shall be submitted to the election commission together with the copies of election campaign materials that are submitted in accordance with part 5 of Article 68 of this Federal law. In case of placing election campaign material on the TV and radio channels of broadcasting organization or in periodical, the abovementioned document must be submitted to the election commission upon its request. The presentation of the abovementioned document is not required in the following cases:


1) political party uses the statements of the candidates nominated by this political party in federal list of candidates, candidates in single-mandate electoral districts;


2) use of public statements made about the political party that nominated the list of candidates, candidates in single-mandate electoral districts, about the candidate (candidates) with indication of the date (period) of disclosure of such statements and the titles of mass media outlets where such statements were published;


3) quoting statements about the political party that nominated the list of candidates, candidates in single-mandate electoral districts, about the candidate (candidates) that were made public on by political parties, by candidates in their election campaign materials, produced and disseminated in accordance with the law.


9.1 The use of images of individuals in election campaign materials shall be allowed only in the following cases:


1) political party uses images of the candidates nominated by this political party (including a federal list of candidates), including candidates among unidentified persons;


2) candidate uses his own images, including among unidentified persons. 9.2. The consent for the use of relevant images is not required in cases referred to in paragraph 9.1 of this Article.


10. All campaign expenditures shall be paid exclusively from electoral funds of political parties which nominated federal lists of candidates and their regional branches (if available). Campaign activities aiming to encourage or encouraging voters to vote for a federal list of candidates nominated by a political party which are paid for from electoral funds of other political parties and their regional branches shall be prohibited.


11. If a political party which has registered a federal list of candidates shall within 20 days before the day of elections publish its election program at least in one national state print media outlet and in the Internet. Such publication shall be carried out with the use of either free space provided by the print media under this Federal Law or space paid for from the electoral fund of the political party.


12. A political party which has registered only candidates in the single-mandate electoral district shall within 20 days before the day of elections publish its election program at least in one national state print media outlet and in the Internet and submit a copy of it to the CEC with notification on the website where this program is published. Such publication shall be carried out with the use of either free space provided by the print media under this Federal Law or space paid for from the electoral fund of the candidate.