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Article 74.
 

Restrictions on Conducting Election Campaigning


1. Participation in election campaigning shall be prohibited for: 1) foreigners and persons without citizenship, in particular through journalistic activities or in the form of participation in concerts, performances, sport competitions, and other public events conducted in support of a party that is an electoral subject or an MP candidate; 2) executive bodies, state bodies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and bodies of local self-government, law enforcement agencies and courts; 3) public servants and officials of the bodies specified in clause 2 of this Part, during their working hours, unless the public servant or official is an MP candidate; 4) members of election commissions during their term of office in the respective election commissions.


2. Election campaigning in military units (commands), penitentiary institutions, and pretrial detention centers shall be restricted. Visiting the military units (commands), penitentiary institutions, and pretrial detention centers by MP candidates, their proxies, or the parties’ authorized persons shall be prohibited. Meetings of these persons with the voters shall be organized by the respective district election commission jointly with the military unit (command) commander or with the head of the penitentiary institution or pretrial detention center, with mandatory notification of all the authorized persons of the parties and MP candidates in the single-mandate district or their proxies in the respective single-mandate district no later than three days prior to the meeting.


3. The use of premises of state executive bodies, state bodies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and bodies of local self-government for conducting election campaigning at the expense of the funds of the electoral funds of parties or MP candidates in a single-mandate election district shall be prohibited.


4. Campaign events, dissemination of campaign materials, demonstration of campaign films or clips, dissemination of campaign leaflets, posters, other printed campaign materials or publications with election campaign materials, public calls to vote or not to vote for the parties that are subjects of the election process, MP candidates in a single-mandate district, or public assessment of activities of such parties or MP candidates during the events organized by state authorities, state bodies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, local self-government bodies, state-owned or municipal enterprises, establishments, institutions, organizations shall be prohibited.


{A new part was added to Article 74 pursuant to the Law № 709-VII dd. 21.11.2013}


5. Placing election campaigning materials and political advertisements on the buildings and in the premises of state executive bodies, state bodies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and bodies of local self-government, state-owned and municipal enterprises, institutions and organizations shall be prohibited.


6. It shall be prohibited to disseminate in any form any materials containing appeals to terminate the independence of Ukraine, change its constitutional order by violence, infringe upon the sovereignty or territorial integrity of the state, undermine its security, illegally seize state power; advocating war and violence; inciting inter-ethnic, racial, national, or religious hostility; or encroaching on human rights and freedoms or on the health of the population.


7. During the election process, media outlets, functionaries and officials and creative employees thereof shall be prohibited from appealing, in their materials and programs other than those based on agreements concluded in compliance with the requirements of Parts 5 and 10 Article 72 or Parts 2 and 7 Article 73 of this Law, to vote or not to vote for parties or MP candidates; disseminating information that bears signs of political advertising free of charge or which has been paid for from sources not specified by the law; and disseminating information with the purpose of encouraging voters to vote for or not to vote for a particular electoral subject. In the course of the election process, authors and hosts of television and radio programs registered as MP candidates shall be also prohibited from conducting their election campaigning in television or radio programs.


8. It shall be prohibited to place political advertisements in the same bloc with commercial or social advertisements. During the election process, it shall be prohibited to use in the commercial or social advertisements: 1) surnames or pictures of MP candidates; 2) names or symbols of the parties that are subjects of election process. {Part 8 Article 74 in the wording of the Law № 709-VII dd. 21.11.2013}


9. It shall be prohibited to place political advertising carriers on the external surface and inside public transportation vehicles, including taxis; to place political advertisements in the premises and on the buildings of subway stations, bus and railway stations, ports and airports; and also to distribute election campaigning materials, including political advertisements, through television and radio broadcasting networks or other passenger information networks or information panels in the premises of subway stations and inside subway cars, bus and railway stations, ports and airports, as well as inside public transportation vehicles.


10. It shall be prohibited to spread deliberately false or libelous information about a party that is an electoral subject or about an MP candidate if its false or libelous nature has been established by a court.


11. If a court establishes, while hearing an election dispute, that a mass media organization has violated the requirements of this Law more than once or has violated them once, but grossly, the court shall pass a decision temporarily (till the end of the election process) suspending the license or imposing a temporary ban on the publication of the periodical.


12. The National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine shall, by its decision, stop the broadcasting in the territory of Ukraine, in particular by telecommunication operators, of foreign television channels whose activities violate the legal provision prohibiting citizens of foreign countries and persons without citizenship from conducting election campaigning through journalistic activities, or whose programs contain appeals to terminate the independence of Ukraine, change its constitutional order by violence, infringe upon the sovereignty or territorial integrity of the state, undermine its security, illegally seize state power; advocate war and violence; incite inter-ethnic, racial, national, or religious hostility; or encroach on human rights and freedoms or on the health of the population.


13. Parties that are electoral subjects and MP candidates shall have the right to address a media organization that has made public information which the party or the candidate considers to be false, demanding that their response be published. The media organization that made public the respective material shall, no later than three days after receiving the demand for response, but no later than on the last day prior to the day of voting, provide the party or the MP candidate affected by the disseminated false information with an opportunity to make public a response, by providing the same amount of air time, respectively, on television or radio, or by publishing in the printed mass medium the material provided by the party or MP candidate, which must be printed in the same font and be placed in the column “Response” in the same place of the periodical and be at least as large as the report being refuted. The response shall contain reference to the publication in the printed mass medium or to the program on television or radio and to the information being refuted. The response shall not contain any direct appeals to vote or note vote for particular parties or MP candidates. The response shall be made public without any appendices, commentaries, or abridgments, at the expense of mass media. No response to a response shall be provided.


14. While conducting election campaigning, it shall be prohibited to hand out money or distribute for free or on a preferential basis commodities (except for items bearing the visual images of the name, symbol, or flag of a party, provided that the value of such items does not exceed three percent of the minimum salary), services, works, securities, loans, lottery tickets, other tangible assets to voters, establishments, institutions, or organizations. Such election campaigning or handing out money or distribution for free or on a preferential basis of commodities, services, works, securities, loans, lottery tickets, other tangible assets to voters, establishments, institutions, or organizations along with appeals or proposals to vote or not to vote for a particular party or MP candidate or along with mentioning the name of a party or an MP candidate shall be deemed to be indirect bribing of voters.


{Part 14 Article 74 as amended pursuant to the Law № 709-VII dd. 21.11.2013}


15. The Central Election Commission shall provide for placing in the nationwide mass media the information specified by this Part, clarifications regarding the ban on distributing commodities (except items bearing the visual images of the name, symbol, or flag of a party, provided that the value of such items does not exceed three percent of the minimum salary), services, works, securities, loans, lottery tickets, other tangible assets to voters, establishments, institutions, or organizations, as well as election commissions and their members (indirect bribery). The text of the clarification shall be approved by the Central Election Commission and published once a week on the first page of the newspapers Holos Ukrainy and Uriadovyi Courier and broadcast on the social-political nationwide channels of the Public Television and Public Radio of the National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine, commencing sixty days prior to the day of voting, at the expense of funds of the State Budget of Ukraine allocated for the preparation and conduct of the election.


{Part 15 Article 74 as amended pursuant to the Laws № 709-VII dd. 21.11.2013, № 1227-VII dd. 17.04.2014}


16. State-owned and municipal regional (local) television and radio broadcasting organizations shall not substitute their own programs for parties’ election campaigning programs being broadcast on the nationwide broadcasting channels.


17. It shall be prohibited to include election campaigning materials of parties, including political advertisements, in informational television and radio programs (news reports). Election campaign materials shall be separated from other broadcasts and identified as such.


18. It shall be prohibited to interrupt programs covering parties’ election programs with commercials advertising commodities, works, services, or with other reports.


19. It shall be prohibited to conduct election campaigning in foreign mass media operating in the territory of Ukraine as well as in mass media registered in Ukraine with a foreign ownership share exceeding fifty percent.


20. Mass media shall not be liable for the contents of election campaigning materials that were placed in accordance with agreements with customers , except in cases specified by: 1) Part 5 of this Article; 2) Part 9 of this Article if the media organization was positively aware of the existence of a relevant court judgment.


21. It shall be prohibited to place election campaigning materials, political advertisements, including reports on the course of the election process, on cultural heritage objects.


22. MP candidates shall not use corporate vehicles, means of communication, equipment, premises, other objects or resources at the place of his or her work, staff or production meetings, or corporate meetings for election campaigning, or to engage the following persons in his or her election campaign activity or use them for any kind of activity associated with election campaigning: 1) as regards MP candidates holding offices in state executive bodies or in other governmental bodies, state bodies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, local self-government bodies – functionaries and officials of state executive bodies or other governmental bodies, state bodies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, local self-government bodies (except individuals holding positions of an assistant advisor to an MP of Ukraine); 2) as regards MP candidates holding offices, including part-time work, at enterprises regardless of the form of ownership, type of activity or industry affiliation, at institutions, establishments, organizations, military units (commands) established under the Laws of Ukraine – his or her subordinates at the place of his or her work (during the business hours).


23. It shall be prohibited to publish and distribute printed election campaigning materials containing no information on the person requesting the publication of such materials, the establishment that published them, their circulation, and information on the individuals in charge of the issue.


24. From the time of termination of the election campaigning, pursuant to Part 2 Article 70 of this Law, no one shall hold election campaign events, spread election campaigning materials in the mass media, show election campaign films or videos, distribute election leaflets, posters, other printed campaigning materials or printed periodicals containing election campaigning materials, public appeals to vote or not to vote for parties that are electoral subjects or for MP candidates in a single-mandate district, or public assessment of the activities of those parties or MP candidates. Circulation of election campaigning materials shall be stopped as of 24:00 on the last Friday prior to the day of voting by the respective units of the local executive bodies and local self-government bodies.


25. Interference with the exercise of the right to conduct election campaigning, as well as violation of the legally established procedure for conducting such campaigning, shall entail liability as provided by the Laws of Ukraine.


26. If the Central Election Commission or a district election commission receives an application or other report concerning violations that suggest that a crime or an administrative offense may have been committed, the respective election commission shall immediately forward the aforementioned report to the relevant law enforcement bodies.


{Part 26 Article 74 as amended pursuant to the Law № 245-VII dd. 16.05.2013}