Broadcasting during the Election Campaign for Elections of President

(1) The Radio and Television of Slovakia shall reserve maximum one hour of broadcasting time for each candidate for President, however, in total maximum ten hours of broadcasting time for political commercials broadcasting in radio broadcasting and maximum ten hours of broadcasting time for political commercials broadcasting in television broadcasting. The claim to broadcasting time must be set up no later than five days before the commencement of political commercials broadcasting, otherwise it will expire.

(2) In addition to the time pursuant to Paragraph 1, the Radio and Television of Slovakia shall reserve ten hours of broadcasting time for discussion programmes in radio broadcasting and ten hours of broadcasting time for discussion programmes in television broadcasting.

(3) The Radio and Television of Slovakia and the licensed broadcaster shall divide the times pursuant to Paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 uniformly among the candidates for President so that the determination of broadcasting time does not disadvantage any candidate for President.

(4) The licensed broadcaster may reserve for political commercials broadcasting maximum 30 minutes of broadcasting time for each candidate for President, however, in total maximum ten hours of broadcasting time.

(5) At the time of election campaign, the licensed broadcaster may broadcast, in addition to political commercials pursuant to Paragraph 4, the discussion programmes with candidates for President only provided that their inclusion into the programme structure for that period has been approved by the Council. In such case, the licensed broadcaster shall be obliged to submit to the Council, no later than 25 days before the commencement of broadcasting, the project of the programme, which must, inter alia, also contain the way of such selection of discussion participants so that none of the candidates for President is disadvantaged. The inclusion of such programme into broadcasting shall not be considered a change of programme service.

(6) The costs of political commercials in the broadcasting of the Radio and Television of Slovakia and the costs of political commercials in the broadcasting of the licensed broadcaster shall be covered by the candidates for President. The Radio and Television of Slovakia and the licensed broadcaster shall be obliged to provide all the candidates for President with equal conditions for the purchase of broadcasting time and equal price and payment conditions.

(7) Broadcasting of programmes different from the ones pursuant to Article 12 (5) and from the ones mentioned in Paragraphs 2 and 5, and broadcasting of political commercials mentioned in Paragraphs 1 and 4, which could affect the voting of voters holding the right to vote in favour or to the detriment of a candidate for President is prohibited.

(8) If the second round of elections of President takes place, the provision of Article 12 (1) shall not be applied and broadcasting of political commercials shall be permitted at the time beginning on the date of announcement of election results of the first round of elections of President by the State Commission and ending 48 hours before the date of the second round of elections. The Radio and Television of Slovakia shall reserve two hours of broadcasting time for political commercials broadcasting and two hours for broadcasting of discussion programmes separately in radio broadcasting and separately in television broadcasting; the candidates for president shall set up a claim to broadcasting time within 24 hours from the announcement of results of the first round of elections. The licensed broadcaster may reserve maximum two hours of broadcasting time for political commercials broadcasting and maximum two hours of broadcasting time for broadcasting of discussion programmes. The provision of Paragraph 3 shall also apply accordingly to broadcasting of political commercials and discussion programmes before the second round of elections.