Peculiarities of Media coverage of the elections

(1) During the electoral period, electoral audiovisual programmes and written materials that refer in one or another way to the initiative groups, electoral competitors (candidates in elections) and participants in the referendum shall be distributed/published in accordance with the Regulation on Media coverage of the elections, approved by the Central Electoral Commission.

(2) In audiovisual media services, initiative groups, electoral competitors (candidates in elections), their participants in the referendum, their representatives and trustworthy persons may not have direct or indirect interventions and cannot be targeted by third parties in audiovisual programmes other than electoral programmes, which are expressly established in the editorial policies statements of Media service providers. Audiovisual programs with an electoral character are considered the following:

a) news programmes — informative headings or groups of information, marked by unique acoustic and visual signals, in which may be broadcasted information on voting technique, the electoral system, other aspects of the electoral process, opinion polls and the campaign activities of the initiative groups, the electoral competitors and the participants in the referendum;

b) electoral information programmes — programmes organised on the initiative of the media service provider, in which the initiative groups, electoral competitors (candidates in elections), participants in the referendum or their representatives may present political programmes and in which various issues of public interest may be discussed;

c) elections promotion programmes — programmes broadcasted within the air time limit offered to the initiative groups, the electoral competitors and the participants in the referendum under this Code;

d) electoral debates — programmes in which the initiative groups, electoral competitors (candidates in elections), the participants in the referendum or their representatives are called to express their views on the topics proposed for discussion by the media service provider;

e) electoral advertising programmes — programmes intended exclusively for the dissemination of electoral advertising.

(3) The audiovisual programmes referred to in paragraph (1) shall be produced and broadcasted only during the electoral period and, where appropriate, during the electoral campaign, in accordance with the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Code and Regulation on Media coverage of the elections

(4) During the electoral period, the political advertising and public interest messages shall be broadcasted in accordance with the procedure laid down in the regulation approved by the Central Electoral Commission.

(5) Within the first 7 days following the start of the electoral period, media service providers shall submit to the Audiovisual Council a statement on the editorial policy for covering elections or a notification informing that they shall not participate in the election coverage. Statements that correspond to the legislation shall be approved by the Audiovisual Council and shall be published on its official website and on the official web pages of media service providers. The control over compliance with the editorial policy shall be performed by the Audiovisual Council ex officio, according to the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Code.

(6) During the electoral campaign for all type of elections, audiovisual media service providers are required to organise debates if they have included in their editorial policy statements the commitments to organize of electoral debates and they have been adopted by the Audiovisual Council. The format, duration, frequency and time of broadcasting electoral debates shall be established by media service providers, by ensuring strict or proportional equality, as indicated in the editorial policy statement. Electoral debates shall be broadcasted during the prime time, laid down by the Code of audiovisual media services of the Republic of Moldova.

(7) During the electoral campaign for the Parliamentary, Presidential Elections and Republican Referendum, national media service providers which will cover the electoral campaign, the list of which is being updated and made public by the Audiovisual Council, shall grant, free of charge, 5 minutes of TV airtimes and 10 minutes of radio airtime to each political party, electoral bloc of parties and independent candidate registered as electoral competitors or participant in a referendum. These airtimes shall be offered for the purpose of presenting the electoral programs and informing the voters. These airtimes shall be fully granted during the first 15 days after the start of the electoral campaign and cannot be used for the purpose of broadcasting electoral advertising.

(8) In Parliamentary, Presidential Election and Republican Referendum, public media service providers shall grant, free of charge, one minute of air time per day, for electoral advertising, to political parties, electoral blocs of parties and independent candidates registered as electoral competitors or participants in the referendum.

(9) To each initiative group, for the duration of its activities, and to each electoral competitor or participant in the referendum, during the electoral campaign, shall be offered a maximum of 2 minutes per day for payed electoral advertising by each audiovisual media service provider. The fee for the electoral advertising may not exceed the fee of commercial advertising applied during the period of 6 months prior to the Elections Day. Payed air time for electoral advertising shall be offered under equal conditions, within the hours established by media service providers in the editorial policy statements. Media service providers that do not participate in elections coverage do not have the right to place payed electoral advertising.

(10) Within 3 days of request, media service providers shall provide air time in accordance with the order established in the editorial policy statement.

(11) The refusal to broadcast or publish, under the conditions laid down in this Code, payed or free of charge electoral advertising may be challenged before the Court.

(12) During the electoral period, the procedures for organising and conducting opinion polls on the political preferences of voters and exit-polls shall be laid down by regulation approved by the Central Electoral Commission. Only authorised opinion polls may be published. The broadcasting and coverage of the results of unauthorised opinion polls shall be punished in accordance with the legislation.

(13) On Elections Day, before 21.00, Republic of Moldova local time, the Media outlets shall not publish the results of opinion polls on voters’ political preferences, interviews on the number of votes received by the electoral competitors during the day and their chances, as well as the results of the exit-polls.

(14) Media outlets founded by public authorities, that cover elections, shall publish free of charge, and the public and private audiovisual media service providers, whose editorial policy statements have been approved, broadcast free of charge, at the request of electoral bodies, messages of public interest under the conditions laid down in Chapter III of Law No 62/2022 on advertising.

(15) During the electoral period, the Audiovisual Council monitors the manner in which media service providers observe the editorial policy statements on elections coverage. Depending on the technical possibilities, shall be monitored, as a matter of priority, the generalist media services and news providers which, according to the measurements taken by the specialised institution, have had the highest audiences during the last three months before the month in which the date of elections was established.

(16) During the electoral period, the Audiovisual Council shall present publicly monitoring reports, on weekly basis, and shall adopt decisions based on the monitoring results. Within 3 days after elections (on Wednesday), the Audiovisual Council presents publicly a monitoring report for Saturday and Sunday, during which the electoral campaigning is prohibited. The monitoring reports, as well as the balance report, are presented to the Central Electoral Commission and are posted on the official web page of the Audiovisual Council and on the official web pages of the monitored media service providers, no later than the day after the public presentation.

(17) Within two weeks after elections, the Audiovisual Council shall publicly present a final report on the coverage of the elections by audiovisual media service providers.