Home > 1.3.1.1.1 Coverage of the election campaign > RUSSIAN FEDERATION - Federal Law on Presidential Elections in the Russian Federation
 
 
 
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Article 53
 

1. Registered candidates, except for the candidates as specified in Clause 2.1 of Article 51 hereof, shall have the right to be provided with free printable area in the national state-owned printed periodicals with at least once a week issue frequency, on the terms and conditions as follows: the equal printable area, the same location on the page, the same font size, etc. The political parties that nominated registered candidates, except for the political parties as specified in Clause 2.1 of Article 51 hereof, shall have the right to be provided with free printable area in the national state-owned printed periodicals with at least once a week issue frequency, on equal terms and conditions. (as amended by Federal Laws No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 and No. 203-FZ of July 19, 2009)


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


3. The total weekly minimum of the printable area provided by each office of the national state-owned printed periodicals to registered candidates or political parties that nominated registered candidates, free of charge or, in the event as specified in Clause 3.1 of this Article, for payment, shall be at least 5 percent of the total weekly printable area of the relevant printed periodical. Information of the total printable area provided by the office of a state-owned printed periodical for the purposes of election campaigning shall be published in the relevant printed periodical within 20 days after the date when the decision to call the election of the President of the Russian Federation was officially published. (clause 3 as amended by Federal Law No. 203-FZ of July 19, 2009)


3.1. The political parties and registered candidates as specified in Clause 2.1 of Article 51 hereof shall be entitled to receive their share of the total printable area made available under Clause 3 of this Article or a part thereof, under the agreement made with the office of a printed periodical, for payment at the rate not exceeding the charge for the printable area as reserved by national state-owned printed periodicals subject to Clause 7 of this Article for the purposes of election campaigning. The printable area made available under the agreement as specified in this Clause shall be distributed in accordance with Clauses 4 to 5 of this Article. (clause 3.1 has been introduced by Federal Law No. 203-FZ of July 19, 2009)


4. One half of the total printable area made available under Clause 3 of this Article shall be distributed on the basis of the lot drawing results as specified in Clause 6 of this Article, in equal shares among all registered candidates. (clause 4 as amended by Federal Law No. 203-FZ of July 19, 2009)


5. One half of the total printable area made available under Clause 3 of this Article shall be distributed on the basis of the lot drawing results as specified in Clause 6 of this Article, in equal shares among the political parties that nominated registered candidates and gave applications for the lot drawing. (clause 5 as amended by Federal Law No. 203-FZ of July 19, 2009)


6. The lot drawing as meant to determine the date for free of charge or, if so provided by Clause 3.1 of this Article, payable publication of the campaigning materials of registered candidates or political parties that nominated registered candidates shall be held by the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation together with the offices of national state-owned printed periodicals. The lot drawing shall be held after all the candidates are registered but not later than 30 days before the voting day. The persons as specified in Clause 1 of Article 23 hereof shall be entitled to be present at the lot drawing event. The lot drawing results shall be recorded in the minutes and approved by a resolution of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation. (clause 6 as amended by Federal Law No. 203-FZ of July 19, 2009)


7. Offices of national and regional state-owned printed periodicals with at least once a week issue frequency shall reserve the printable area for the registered candidates to hold their election campaigns, for payment, during the period as established by Clauses 2 and 5, respectively, of Article 50 hereof. The rates and terms of payment shall be the same for all candidates. The total payable printable area reserved by each office of a national state-owned printed periodical shall not be less than the total free printable area made available under Clause 3 of this Article but it shall not exceed the same more than twice, either. The total weekly minimum of the payable printable area as reserved by each office of a regional state-owned printed periodical shall be at least 5 percent of the total weekly printable area of the relevant printed periodical during the period as established by Clauses 2 and 5, respectively, of Article 50 hereof.


8. Any registered candidate shall be entitled to receive his share of the reserved printable area within the total reserved printable area, as calculated by the division of the total reserved printable area by the total number of the registered candidates.


9. The date of campaigning materials publication shall be determined by the lot drawing held by the office of a printed periodical together with the persons concerned on the basis of the written applications for the lot drawing as submitted by the registered candidates. The lot drawing shall be held within the period as established by Clause 6 of this Article. Members of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation and members of the election commission of a Subject of the Russian Federation, respectively, as well as the persons as specified in Clause 1 of Article 23 hereof shall be entitled to be present at the lot drawing event. The lot drawing results shall be recorded in the minutes.


10. Offices of municipal printed periodicals as well as offices of printed periodicals with less than once a week issue frequency, provided that they have met the requirements as set forth in Clause 9 of Article 51 hereof, shall provide the registered candidates with payable printable area. The rates and terms of payment shall be the same for all registered candidates. Offices shall establish the total scope of the printable area to be made available to the registered candidates at their own discretion. The date of publication of every registered candidate’s campaigning materials shall be determined by the lot drawing held by the offices of the specified printed periodicals together with the persons concerned, on the basis of a written application for the lot drawing as submitted by a registered candidate. The lot drawing shall be held within the period as established by Clause 6 of this Article.


11. If after the lot drawing is held any registered candidate or political party that nominated a registered candidate refuses to use the printable area, he/it shall notify the relevant office of the printed periodical of the fact in writing not later than five days before the campaigning material is published. And the office of the printed periodical can use the vacant printable area at its own discretion. (as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


12. Offices of private printed periodicals, provided that they have met the requirements as set forth in Clause 9 of Article 51 hereof, shall provide the registered candidates with printable area on the equal payment terms. Offices of private printed periodicals that failed to meet the requirements as set forth in Clause 9 of Article 51 hereof shall not be entitled to provide the registered candidates with printable area for the purposes of election campaigning. Offices of private printed periodicals may refuse to provide printable area for the purposes of election campaigning.


13. The payment order for the total amount payable for the printable area shall be delivered by a registered candidate to the relevant branch of the Savings Bank (Sberbank) of the Russian Federation not later than two days before the date of the campaigning material publication or, in case of a repeat voting, not later than one day before the publication date. A copy of the payment order bearing a stamp of a branch of the Savings Bank (Sberbank) of the Russian Federation shall be presented by a registered candidate to the office of the printed periodical before the printable area is provided. No printable area shall be provided in case this provision is not complied with.


14. A branch of the Savings Bank (Sberbank) of the Russian Federation shall transfer the funds not later than on the transaction day following the date when the payment order was received. The funds transfer period shall not exceed two transaction days in case of a transfer within a Constituent of the Russian Federation and five transaction days in case of a transfer within the Russian Federation.


15. Campaigning materials shall be published in accordance with this Article and shall not be accompanied by any editorial opinions of whatever nature, headings or illustrations as were not approved by the relevant registered candidate or political party that nominated the registered candidate. (as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)


16. All campaigning materials published in printed periodicals shall specify the registered candidate whose electoral funds were used to pay for the relevant publication. If any campaigning materials are published free of charge, subject to Clause 1 of this Article, this fact shall be mentioned in the publication specifying the registered candidate or the political party that nominated the registered candidate who or which was given the opportunity to publish the relevant campaigning materials. The office of the relevant printed periodical shall be responsible for compliance with this provision. (as amended by Federal Laws No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005 and No. 203-FZ of July 19, 2009)


17. Offices of the printed periodicals publishing campaigning materials shall not be entitled to favor any registered candidate or political party that nominated a registered candidate by changing the number of copies or the issue frequency of printed periodicals. This requirement shall not apply to the offices of printed periodicals founded by registered candidates or political parties that nominated registered candidates. (as amended by Federal Law No. 93-FZ of July 21, 2005)