Forms and Means of Election Campaigning

1. Election campaigning shall mean carrying out any activity aimed at encouraging voters to vote or not to vote for a particular candidate or party (party organizations) that are electoral subjects. Election campaigning may be performed by any means that do not contradict the Constitution of Ukraine and the Laws of Ukraine.

Election campaigning may be conducted in the following forms:

1) holding meetings with citizens, other meetings with voters;

2) holding rallies, marches, demonstrations;

3) holding public debates, discussions, round tables, press conferences pertaining to the positions of election programs and political activities of candidates and parties (party organizations) that are electoral subjects;

4) making public political advertisements, speeches, interviews, essays, video films, audio and video clips, other publications and notices in print and audiovisual (electronic) mass media;

5) distributing election leaflets, posters and other printed campaigning materials or printed publications containing election campaigning materials;

6) placing printed campaigning materials or political advertisements on outdoor advertising media;

7) holding concerts, performances, sport competitions, showing films and television programs, or [staging] other public events with the support of a candidate or party (party organization) that are electoral subjects, as well as making public the information on such support;

8) public appeals to vote or not to vote for a candidate or party (party organization) that are electoral subjects, as well as public assessments of activities of such a candidate or party (party organization);

9) installation of campaign tents;

10) other forms that do not contradict the Constitution of Ukraine and the Laws of Ukraine.

2. Citizens of Ukraine shall have the right to freely and comprehensively discuss the election programs of candidates and parties (party organizations) that are electoral subjects, as well as political, business and personal qualities of candidates, to campaign for or against candidates or parties (party organizations).


3. Official reports during the election campaign (without comments that may be of a campaigning nature, as well as video, audio recording, filming, photo illustrations) on actions taken by candidates in connection with performance of their official (service) duties provided for by the Constitution of Ukraine or the Laws of Ukraine, shall not be considered election campaigning.


4. Candidates and parties (party organizations) that are electoral subjects shall finance their election campaigns, unless otherwise stated by this Code.

Support by candidates (candidate) or parties (party organizations) who are electoral subjects, on their own behalf or on behalf of a candidate (candidates) which it has nominated, for concerts, performances, sport competitions, demonstration of films and television programs, or other public events, and also the staging of the aforementioned public events in support of a candidate (candidates) or the subject that has nominated such candidates, shall be allowed only if such events are paid for out of the electoral fund of the respective electoral subject.

5. Hidden campaigning, as well as the placement or dissemination of campaign materials not marked in accordance with the requirements of this Code shall be prohibited. Advertisements of printed publications (newspapers, magazines, books), other goods or services, using the names or images (portraits) of candidates, names or symbols of political parties that are electoral subjects shall be deemed the election campaigning. The election campaigning shall also include the use of symbols (anthem, flag, sign, slogan) or logos of a party that is the electoral subject of the respective election process, the use of campaign slogans, mottos of candidates and parties (party organizations) that are electoral subjects in the respective election process, as well as announcements about holding spectacular or other public events in support of the party or candidate or about the support of the aforementioned events by candidates or parties (party organizations) that are electoral subjects, as well as attracting attention to the fact about the participation in such events of certain persons as candidates.


6. Official reports during the election campaign on actions taken by candidates holding positions in state executive bodies, state bodies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, or local self-government bodies, in connection with performance of their official (service) duties provided for by the Constitution of Ukraine or the Laws of Ukraine, and produced in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Law of Ukraine “On the Procedure for Media Coverage of activities of State Executive Bodies and

Bodies of Local Self-Government in Ukraine”, shall not be deemed to be election campaigning. Such official reports must not contain any comments of a campaigning nature, video or audio recording, or photographic illustrations of activities of the aforementioned persons as candidates.

No mention shall be made in such reports of respective persons or their intended activities in the case of their election.

7. A candidate or party (party organization) that are electoral subjects shall have the right to rent buildings and premises of all forms of ownership for the holding of meetings, rallies, debates, discussions, or other public events of election campaigning, on a contract basis, at the expense of their respective electoral funds.


8. If a building (premises) of any form of its ownership is provided to a candidate or party (party organization) for holding a pre-election public event or election campaign event, the owner (proprietor, user) of this building (premises) shall not refuse to allow any other candidate or party (party organization) to use the same building (premises) on the same terms. The aforementioned requirement shall not apply to premises owned or permanently used by candidates and parties (party organizations) that are electoral subjects.

Legal persons or individuals acting as distributors of outdoor advertising, who provide advertising media (outdoor advertising media) for the placement of campaign materials (political advertising), shall provide an equal access and equal conditions for candidates and parties (party organizations) that are electoral subjects.

9. Information agencies shall provide premises to candidates or subjects of their nomination for holding press conferences on conditions of equal access and equal pay. An electoral subject shall pay for the use of premises for holding press conferences provided by an information agency at the expense of its electoral fund. Premises for holding press conferences shall not be provided without concluding an agreement and advance payment from the respective electoral fund.


10. Candidates, parties (party organizations) who are electoral subjects shall facilitate voters’ access to campaign materials without discrimination, in particular by producing printed and audiovisual materials in accessible formats, bringing official websites in compliance with accessibility standards, as well as in another manner not prohibited by the Law.