Home > 2.5 Election campaign > RUSSIAN FEDERATION - Federal Law on Presidential Elections in the Russian Federation
 
 
 
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Article 49
 

1. The following shall be regarded as election campaigning during the election campaign period:


1) calls for voting for or against a candidate (candidates); (as amended by Federal Laws No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 and No. 107-FZ of July 12, 2006)


2) expression of preference for a candidate or a political party nominating a candidate including specification of the candidate that a voter is going to vote for (except for publication (disclosure) of the results of public opinion polls subject to Clause 2 of Article 47 hereof); (subclause 2 as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


3) description of possible consequences of a candidate’s election or non-election;


4) distribution of any materials with clearly predominant information about certain candidates or political parties that nominated candidates, followed by positive or negative comments; (as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


5) distribution of information about a candidate activities unrelated to his job or official (job) duties;


6) any activities promoting a positive or negative attitude of voters towards a candidate, a political party that a candidate belongs to or a political party that nominated a candidate; (subclause 6 as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


7) The clause has lost effect. — Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005.


1.1. Any actions performed by representatives of mass media organizations within their job activity and specified in Subclause 1, Clause 1 of this Article, shall be recognized as election campaigning in case such actions were performed to induce voters to vote for or against a candidate (candidates) and the actions as specified in Subclauses 2 to 6, Clause 1 of this Article, shall be treated as election campaigning if such actions were performed for the said purpose more than once. (clause 1.1 has been introduced by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005, as amended by Federal Law No. 107- FZ of July 12, 2006)


2. Election campaigning may be conducted:


1) on channels of TV and radio broadcasting organizations and in printed periodicals;


2) by means of campaigning public events; (subclause 2 as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


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


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


3. Election campaigning on the channels of TV and radio broadcasting organizations and in the printed periodicals shall be conducted in the form of public debates, discussions, panel discussions, press conferences, interviews, speeches, demonstration of TV stories and video films about a registered candidate as well as in any other forms which are not prohibited by law. A candidate or a political party may select the contents, form and methods of their election campaigning at their own discretion; they may conduct election campaigning individually or involve other persons therein in accordance with the procedure as established by the laws of the Russian Federation. (as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


4. No election campaigning shall be conducted and no campaigning materials shall be produced and/or distributed by:


1) any federal government bodies, government bodies of Constituents of the Russian Federation or any other government bodies or local authorities;


2) any persons who hold government offices or elective municipal offices or those on government or municipal service or persons who are members of management bodies in organizations of any ownership type whatsoever (or members of the bodies managing the affairs of organizations with the general meeting as the supreme management body) except for political parties, when performing their official or job duties and/or by taking advantage of their office or position; (subclause 2 as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


3) military units, military establishments and organizations;


4) charity and religious organizations or organizations founded by them as well as representatives of religious associations when performing rites and ceremonies; (as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


5) election commissions or members of election commissions having the right of casting vote; 6) foreign nationals, stateless persons, foreign organizations; (as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


6.1) international organizations and international public associations; (clause6.1 has been introduced by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005) 7) representatives of mass media organizations when they are engaged in their professional activities;


8) any persons who violated the restrictions as specified in Clause 1, Article 56 of the Federal Law On Basic Guarantees of Voting Rights and the Right to Take Part in a Referendum Belonging to the Russian Federation Citizens, as long as such violation is established by a court judgment during the election campaign pertaining to the election of the President of the Russian Federation. (clause 8 has been introduced by Federal Law No. 64-FZ of April 26, 2007)


5. The persons who hold governmental or elective municipal offices shall not conduct election campaigning on the channels of TV and radio broadcasting organizations and/or in the printed periodicals unless such persons have been registered as candidates or authorized representatives of political parties that nominated the registered candidates. (as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


6. The persons who have not reached the age of 18 years as at the voting day shall not be directly or indirectly involved in election campaigning, including by using images or opinions of such persons in campaigning materials, save for the case as specified in Subclause 5, Clause 7 of this Article. (as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


7. No images of a person an no opinions of a person concerning a candidate or a political party nominating a candidate shall be used in campaigning materials without such person’s written consent. The document of consent shall be submitted to the election commission together with copies of the campaigning materials to be presented subject to Clause 3 of Article 55 hereof. If the relevant campaigning material is to be broadcast by a TV and radio broadcasting organization or published in a printed periodical, the specified document shall be submitted to the election commission upon request. This restriction shall not cover:


1) any opinions concerning a political party quoted by the candidate nominated by that political party;


2) any opinions concerning a candidate or a political party nominating a candidate if such opinions have been made public, provided that the date (period of time) of such publication and the name of the mass media outlet where this opinion was made public are indicated. References in campaigning materials to any opinion of a person not entitled to conduct election campaigning subject this Federal Law shall only be allowed if the relevant opinion was made public before the official publication of the decision to call the election of the President of the Russian Federation. Such references shall indicate the date (period of time) when the relevant opinion was published made public and the name of the mass media outlet where it was made public;


3) opinions concerning a candidate or a political party nominating a candidate, provided that such opinions have already been made public by any other candidates in their campaigning materials produced and distributed subject to the law;


4) the clause has lost effect. — Federal Law No. 64-FZ of April 26, 2007;


5) images of a candidate to be used by the relevant candidate or by the political party nominating the relevant candidate, including the images depicting a candidate with his spouse, children (including underage children), parents and other close relatives as well as with any persons whatsoever. (subclause 5 as amended by Federal Law No. 64-FZ of April 26, 2007) (clause 7 as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


8. All election campaigning expenditures shall be covered exclusively out of the electoral funds of the registered candidates save the cases where the registered candidates or political parties are provided with free air time or free printable area in accordance with the procedure as set forth in Articles 51 to 53 of this Federal Law. No campaigning activities in support of a candidate shall be paid for out of electoral funds of any other candidates. (as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


9. If a political party nominates a candidate and this candidate is subsequently registered by the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, then not later than twenty days before the voting day the relevant political party shall publish its election program in at least one national state-owned printed periodical and in the Internet as well as submit a copy of the said publication and communicate the website address where the election program of that party is placed, to the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation. Such publication shall be made within the free printable area in the printed periodical provided to a candidate or to a political party, or paid for out of the electoral fund of a candidate. (as amended by Federal Laws No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 and 64-FZ of April 26, 2007)