General principles on Media coverage of the elections

(1) The provisions of this article shall apply to Media outlets, with the exception of those founded by political parties.

(2) The media institutions are required to respect the fairness, balance and impartiality principles in elections coverage. They must provide airtime or space for electoral advertising under equal and non-discriminatory conditions to the initiative groups, electoral competitors and participants in the referendum.

(3) Media outlets shall not adopt preferential treatment in respect of the initiative groups, electoral competitors and participants in the referendum due to their social status and/or the positions held by their candidates.

(4) During the electoral period, Media outlets shall make a clear distinction in their journalistic materials between the performance of official duties and the electoral activity of persons who do not fall under the Article 16 (3).

(5) Electoral contestants (candidates) or referendum participants who consider that their rights have been violated shall have the right to reply. The written request on granting of the right to reply shall be submitted to the media institution within 2 days since the dissemination/publication of the information. In case of media service providers, the refusal to grant the right to reply may be challenged to the Audiovisual Council, and in the case of print media institutions – to the Central Electoral Commission. The right to reply shall be granted within 3 days after submitting the request/complaint, under equal/similar conditions to those in which the legitimate rights were violated.

(6) Media institutions are entitled to cover elections and to inform the public about all electoral aspects free of interference from public authorities, electoral competitors/candidates, initiative groups, participants in the referendum or other entities. The journalists authorized by media institutions and confirmed by the Central Electoral Commission have access to the meetings of the electoral bodies, to the electoral procedures and to the electoral information under the same conditions as observers.