Electoral campaign on private radio and television broadcasters

(amended by Law No. 74/2012, dated 19 July 2012; letter “d” of point 2 added; acronym and deadline amended in point 10 by Law 101/2020, dated 23 July 2020)

1. Private radios and televisions shall cover the electoral campaign only during normal and special news broadcasts. Private radios and televisions shall not allocate airtime to political entities for their electoral campaign. Information on electoral campaign activities that are prepared and broadcasted in information programmes, on the grounds of material made available by electoral subjects, must be clearly identified in compliance with CEC instructions.

2. During normal and special news broadcasts, private radios and televisions must respect the following conditions:

a) the political airtime in the news broadcasts shall be divided in time ratios, in accordance with the provisions of point 1 of Article 81 of this Code. In case coverage ratios are violated in favour of one party, the CEC, on its own initiative or upon the proposal of CEAZs, shall fine the local radio-television operator with ALL 1,500,000 and the national radio-television operator with ALL 3,000,000. The CEC decision shall constitute an executive title and shall be executed by the bailiff’s office. A complaint against the decision shall not suspend its execution. If the violation is repeated, the CEC shall order the audio-visual media regulatory entity to suspend the broadcasts of that radio-television operator for 48 hours. Such a suspension shall start no later than 1800 of the following day;

b) the broadcasting of activities of central or local public institutions shall be calculated as part of the airtime of the electoral subject that the head of the institution adheres to when this activity is for electoral purposes. An activity shall be considered to be for electoral purposes when it promotes the institutional achievements, investments, inaugurations or the progress in public works or when it promotes specific aspects of the electoral programme of the electoral subject;

c) to cover the activities of non-parliamentary parties and candidates proposed by voters, private radio and television broadcasters shall apply professional news criteria;

ç) propaganda, political comments or stances by journalists shall be prohibited during information programmes. In the event of violation, the CEC shall fine the local radio-television with ALL 1,000,000 and the national radio-television with ALL 2,500,000. The decision of the CEC shall constitute an executive title and shall be executed by the bailiff’s office. A complaint against the decision shall not suspend its execution. If the violation is repeated, the CEC shall order the audio-visual media regulatory entity to suspend the broadcasts of the local radiotelevision operator for 48 hours. Such a suspension shall start no later than 1800 of the following day.

d) Audio-visual media shall prepare news in full editorial freedom. When, due to objective reasons, the media is unable to cover certain election activities, it shall be allowed to use and select footage from full recordings provided by the electoral subjects, on the condition that the news is accompanied by the note “footage provided by electoral subject …”.

3. Private radios and televisions shall have the right to  organise electoral debates between the competing political parties or candidates. In these debates, private radiotelevision broadcasters shall be obliged to preserve the balance between the political parties participating in the debate.

In the event of violations, the CEC shall order the audio-visual media regulatory entity to suspend broadcasts of the radio-television operator for 48 hours. Such a suspension shall start no later than 1800 of the following day.

4. Only electoral subjects registered for elections shall have the right to broadcast political advertisements during the electoral period on private radio, television, or audiovisual media, be they digital, cable, analogue, satellite or any other form or method of signal broadcast. Political advertisements of electoral coalitions shall be calculated within the airtime of the political parties that are members of the coalition, according to an individual agreement between each party and the radio-television broadcaster. Political advertisement must clearly identify the commissioning entity. In the event the political advertisement is not clearly identified, the CEC shall order the immediate suspension of its broadcast until its identification is made as required by this point.

5. The total airtime for political advertisements during the entire election campaign on each private radio and television broadcaster may not exceed 90 minutes for each party registered in elections. In any case, radio and television broadcasters shall apply the same fees for the same time slot throughout the campaign. Five days before the beginning of the electoral campaign, the radio and television broadcasters shall submit the fees for each time slot to the CEC. The fees shall be published on the official website of the CEC.

6. For elections for the Assembly, private national and satellite radios and television broadcasters, that accept paid advertisements in accordance with this Article, shall be obliged to provide electoral subjects, free of charge, with half of the total airtime for advertisement provided for in point 5 of this Article. The costs of private radio and television broadcasters for providing the free airtime to the electoral subjects shall be calculated as a deductible expenditure for taxation purposes. The CEC, the audio-visual media regulatory entity, and the Minister of Finance shall be in charge of issuing the respective instructions.

7. Political advertisements of electoral subjects shall be broadcasted from 1800 and from 2100 to 2400 of the daily programmes. 1500 to

8. Advertisements for candidates for mayors of local government units shall be included in the airtime of the political entity they represent.

9. Private radio and television broadcasters shall provide extra airtime for the advertisements of non-parliamentary parties and candidates proposed by the voters, in addition to the airtime applied in accordance with point 5 of this Article. The airtime for the advertisements of each non-parliamentary party and candidates proposed by voters shall not exceed 10 minutes for the entire electoral campaign. For non-parliamentary parties and candidates proposed by the voters, the same rates as for parliamentary parties, as well as the same criteria for the free of charge airtime, in accordance with point 6 of this Article, shall apply. In the event of violation, the CEC shall fine the local radio-television operator with ALL 2,000,000 and the national radio-television operator with ALL 3,500,000. The decision of the CEC shall constitute an executive title and shall be executed by the bailiff’s office. A complaint against the decision shall not suspend its execution.

In the case of violations, the CEC shall order the audio-visual media regulatory entity to suspend broadcasts of the radio-television operator for 48 hours. Such a suspension shall start no later than 1800 of the following day.

10. Central and local level public institutions, 4 months prior to election date, shall be prohibited to air advertisements, except for those serving the purpose of voters’ awareness raising about aspects of the electoral process or other announcements envisaged by the law.