Pre-Election Campaign Restrictions
1. The following persons shall be prohibited from participating in the pre-election campaign:
1) non-citizens of Ukraine;
2) state executive bodies and bodies of local self-government, their officials and officers;
3) members of election commissions when performing duties of members of election commissions.
2. Pre-election campaign activities shall be restricted in military units (formations) and penitentiary institutions. It is prohibited for individual candidates to the post of President of Ukraine or their proxies to visit military units (formations) and penitentiary institutions. The respective territorial commission shall organize meetings with voters for such persons together with the commanders of the military units (formations) or penitentiary directors upon mandatory notification at least three days prior to the day of the meeting of all proxies of candidates to the post of President of Ukraine in the respective territorial election district.
3. It shall be prohibited to disseminate in any form materials, which contain calls for the liquidation of the independence of Ukraine, the change of the constitutional order by violent means, the violation of the sovereignty and territorial indivisibility of the State, the undermining of its security, the unlawful seizure of state power, the propaganda of war and of violence, the incitement of inter-ethnic, racial, or religious enmity, and the encroachments on human rights and freedoms and the health of the population.
4. It shall be prohibited for state and municipal mass media, their officials and officers, as well as creative staff, in their materials and programs, not covered by agreements concluded according to the requirements of part ten of article 61 and part six of article 63 of this Law, to campaign for or against candidates to the post of President of Ukraine, evaluate their pre-election programs or give preference to them in any form during the election process. The activity of these mass media may be temporarily suspended, in case they violate this requirement, by a court decision upon a submission of the Central Election Commission or the respective territorial election commission.
5. It shall be prohibited to spread deliberately false information about a candidate to the post of President of Ukraine. Mass medium that published information which the candidate to the post of President of Ukraine considers obviously incorrect, must, within three days after the day such materials have been made public, but no later than two days prior to the day of the elections, give the candidate or party (bloc), about whom incorrect information was disseminated, upon their request, a possibility to refute such materials , by giving them the same air time on TV or radio accordingly, or by publishing in the print mass medium material provided by the candidate or party (bloc) that must be printed in the same font and be placed under the heading "Refutation" at the same place in the column and of a volume not less than the volume of the announcement being refuted. The refutation must contain a reference to the respective publication in the printed mass medium or broadcast on the TV or Radio and a reference to the facts being refuted. The refutation must be made public without amendments, commentaries or abbreviations, and should be done at the expense of the respective mass medium.
6. It shall be prohibited to conduct a pre-election campaign that is accompanied by giving money to voters or providing them with goods, services, works, securities, credits, or lotteries on preferential terms or free of charge. Such a pre-election campaign or the act of giving out money or providing services, works, securities, credits, or lotteries on preferential terms or free of charge, which are accompanied by calls or suggestions to vote or not to vote for a certain candidate or mentioning his/her name, shall be regarded as bribery of voters, as it is mentioned in clause 1 of part three of article 56 of this Law.
7. The Central Election Commission shall ensure that explanations are placed in state mass media concerning the prohibition on giving out money or providing goods, services, works, securities, credits and lotteries free of charge or on preferential terms. The Central Election Commission shall approve the text of the explanation and, twice a week, print it in the newspapers "Holos Ukrainy" and "Uriadovy Courier" on the first page and transmit it by TV and radio broadcasting organizations starting thirty days prior to the day of elections.
8. Regional state and municipal TV and radio organizations shall be obliged not to overlap with their own transmissions the campaign programs of the candidates to the post of President of Ukraine transmitted on all-national broadcast channels at the expense of the funds allocated from the State Budget of Ukraine for the preparation and conduct of elections.
9. The central executive body for information policy, television and radio broadcasting, together with the state TV and radio organizations subordinate to it , shall be obliged to develop a procedure by which the broadcast of the pre-election program of one candidate on the First National channel of the National TV Company of Ukraine should not coincide in time with the broadcast of such program of another candidate on the first channel of the National Radio Company of Ukraine, if the air time for both programs is allocated at the expense of funds from of the State Budget of Ukraine for the preparation and conduct of elections.
10. It shall be prohibited to include pre-election campaign materials of candidates to the post of President of Ukraine or political advertisements in TV and radio news programs. Political advertisements must be separated from other materials and specified as such.
11. It shall be prohibited to interrupt broadcasts of pre-election programs of candidates to the post of President of Ukraine or the parties (blocs) that nominated them with advertisement for goods, works, services and other announcements.
12. It shall be prohibited to conduct a pre-election campaign in foreign mass media, which operate on the territory of Ukraine.
13. Mass media of all form s of ownership, which operate s on the territory of Ukraine, shall be prohibited from disseminating information about the results of public opinion polls concerning the candidates to the post of President of Ukraine during the last 15 days prior to the day of elections or the day of repeat voting.
14. It shall be prohibited to place printed pre-election campaign materials, political advertisements, or announcements about the progress of the election process on architectural monuments, as well as in places where they impede road traffic safety.
15. Candidates to the post of President of Ukraine, who occupy posts, including multiple posts at the same time, in state executive bodies and bodies of local self-government, in state and municipal enterprises, in institutions, establishments, organizations, and military units (formations), shall be prohibited from involving in the pre-election campaign or using for any work connected with conducting the pre-election campaign, their subordinates (during working hours), office transport, communication, equipment, premises, other objects and resources at their place of work, and from using office or business gatherings or meetings of staff for the purpose of campaigning.
16. It shall be prohibited to produce and distribute printed pre-election campaign materials, which do not contain information about the institution that did the printing, their circulation and information about the persons in charge of the issue.
17. Active campaigning (publishing campaign materials in mass media, distributing election leaflets, posting election posters, and public calls to vote for or against candidates to the post of President of Ukraine) and dissemination of political advertisements shall be prohibited from the time the pre-election campaign terminates. Pre-election campaign materials shall be removed at 24 hrs on the last Friday preceding the day of elections or the day of repeat voting by the respective services of local executive bodies and local self-governmental bodies.
18. It shall be prohibited to make the results of an exit poll public on the day of elections during the entire voting process.
19. If a statement or complaint is filed with the Central Election Commission or the territorial election commission regarding violations of the requirements of parts three, six, and ten through eighteen of this Law, the respective election commission shall immediately forward this statement or complaint to the relevant law enforcement bodies for verification and action according to the laws of Ukraine.
