Procedure and Timeline for Conduct of TV Debates

1. Should the Central Election Commission, in accordance with the procedure established by this Code, call the repeat voting for candidates for the President of Ukraine included on the ballot for repeat voting, the debates shall be held using electronic (audiovisual) mass media (hereinafter referred to as TV debates) at the expense of the funds of the State Budget allocated for preparation and conduct of the election.

2. TV debates at the expense of funds of the State Budget shall be organized and conducted by the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Company of Ukraine on the last Friday prior to the day of repeat voting on the socio-political national channel of the Public Television Channel live in the time period between 19:00 hours and 22:00 hours, lasting 60 minutes of nonstop airtime.

3. Candidates for President of Ukraine shall take part in TV debates in person. It shall not be allowed for proxies or other representatives of candidates for the President of Ukraine to participate in TV debates, as well as to broadcast during the TV debates of the video materials about a candidate for President of Ukraine prepared in advance, or to use campaigning and other materials about a candidate.
Should one of the candidates for the President of Ukraine refuse to participate in TV debates, or should it become impossible for him or her to participate in such TV debates, the airtime allocated for the televised debates shall be given to another candidate for his or her campaigning.

4. TV debates prepared at the expense of the state budget shall necessarily be broadcast at the socio-political national channel of the Public Radio of the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, as well as may be aired on a free of charge basis by other broadcasting channels.

To broadcast TV debates, a respective television and radio broadcasting organization shall apply in writing to the National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine. The National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine shall be obliged to provide the television and radio organization that applied for it with the possibility to air TV debates on a free of charge basis.

The costs of providing technical support for the broadcast of TV debates on other broadcasting channels shall be borne by the broadcaster that applied for it.
Television and radio companies broadcasting or rebroadcasting TV debates shall not be allowed to interrupt such debates with commercials and other messages, as well as with announcements of their own programs, broadcasts or in any other way.

5. Payment for the airtime provided for TV debates shall be made by the Central Election Commission at the expense of funds of the State Budget allocated for preparation and conduct of the election of the President of Ukraine, in accordance with the respective contract to be concluded between the Central Election Commission and the National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine.

6. A television organization may organize TV debates between candidates for President of Ukraine as a series of programs, in accordance with the requirements of this Code and this Article. A television and radio broadcasting organization may create only one cycle of such broadcasts during the election process. Such a series of broadcasts can be broadcast live only.

7. TV debates specified in Part six of this Article may be conducted at the expense of resources of the electoral funds of candidates for the President of Ukraine within the time periods provided for in this Code for campaigning, between 19:00 and 22:00.

8. TV debates referred to in Part six of this Article shall be organized as a series of programs of the same format so that all candidates for the President of Ukraine can be provided with the opportunity to participate in such debates at their request.

9. No more than two candidates for President of Ukraine may take part in one program of a series of TV debates specified in Part six of this Article at the same time. Candidates shall take part in such TV debates in person. The amount of airtime given to candidates to participate in a discussion or to answer questions shall be determined by the same rules.

10. The interactive voting may be conducted during the TV debates provided for in Part six of this Article, and its results may be made public, subject to consent of all participants of a cycle of TV broadcasts.

11. A schedule of broadcasts, a list of participants and the sequence of participation of candidates for the President of Ukraine in TV debates specified in Part six of this Article shall be published by a respective television organization in the newspapers Holos Ukrainy and Uriadovyy Courier within three days from the day of the schedule approval, but no later than one day prior to the day of commencement of a series of broadcasts.

12. A number of programs within one cycle of TV debates provided for in Part six of this Article shall be planned to be sufficient in order to provide each of the candidates for the President of Ukraine with an opportunity to participate in them no more than once.

13. The duration of each program in a cycle of TV debates provided for in Part six of this Article shall last no less than 60 minutes of uninterrupted airtime.

14. It shall be prohibited to interrupt the broadcasting of TV debates with commercial advertising.