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Regulation of the Central Electoral Commission regarding the coverage of the general local elections of 25 May 2003 in the mass media
Chisinau, 4 April 2003

I. General provisions

1. This Regulation of the Central Electoral Commission determines the method and principles of mass media coverage of the election campaign, according to the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and the Electoral Code.

2. The Central Electoral Commission co-operates on organising and holding the elections with the Moldovan mass media with regard to civic education activities and informing the voters on the electoral process.

3. The electoral campaign for the general local elections will be covered by private and public audio-visual institutions, and in the written press.

4. The Central Electoral Commission and the Co-ordinating Council of the Audio-visual set forth the terms of covering the electoral campaign for all Moldovan audio-visual institutions. These terms are laid down in a special Regulation.

5. The mass media will publish free of charge the information released by the Central Electoral Commission as well as other election related information, including civic education and voter information materials.

6. The electoral contestants participate in the electoral campaign on equal terms, and enjoy equal rights to use the mass media.

7. The production of election related shows and news bulletins will be done in conformity with the Electoral Code, the Law on the Audio-visual and other relevant normative acts.

8. In the electoral campaign the public and private mass media will show objectivity and equidistance, and will avoid influencing the messages of electoral contestants.

9. In the electoral campaign, all parties, socio-political organisations, electoral blocs and independent candidates enjoy equal opportunities and have equal access to public and private radio and TV channels in order to present their electoral programmes.

10. The election-related shows, regardless of the channel and time of broadcast, will be announced by a single identifying and differentiating sound signal.

11. Newspapers will dedicate special columns to the general local elections.

12. The public and private mass media will create equal opportunities for the purchase of airtime for all electoral contestants. Fees for the airtime sold to electoral contestants may not exceed the fees normally charged for commercial publicity.

13. The electoral publicity will be broadcast at the same time.

14. The radio and TV airtime and the space in the written media will be allotted to parties, socio-political organisations and electoral blocs after they register with the relevant district electoral councils.

15. The unused airtime allotted to and scheduled for electoral contestants will not be returned except in cases of technical deficiency of the broadcast equipment of the given radio or TV channel.

16. The paid airtime will be allotted to electoral contestants based on a contract between the respective audio-visual institution and the electoral contestant.

17. Commercial publicity may not be broadcast during election related shows.

18. The materials of electoral contestants containing electoral agitation may not be commented upon by the producers or individual journalists in any form; nor may titles, pictures or other images be displayed without the knowledge of the respective electoral contestants.

19. The language of the shows will be chosen by the electoral contestants or their liaison with the audio-visual institutions.

20. On election day and on the day before, the mass media may not publish electoral agitation material.

21. On election day, the mass media may not publish any results of voter surveys about who they have voted for before the polling stations close.

22. Representatives of the mass media enjoy the same rights as the accredited observers.

23. Electoral contestants will be fully responsible for the contents of their broadcast or written electoral agitation material.

24. Disputes between electoral contestants and audio-visual institutions will be settled by the Central Electoral Commission and the Co-ordinating Council of the Audio-visual, according to current Moldovan laws.

25. The Co-ordinating Council of the Audio-visual will release, on a weekly basis, information about the volume of electoral broadcast used by the electoral contestants on radio and TV channels.

26. If an electoral contestant wants to reply to another one’s statements, he/she can only do that within the broadcast time allotted by the Central Electoral Commission.

II. Terms and broadcast time for electoral agitation on television

27. TV broadcast time will be allotted to electoral contestants only upon the written application by them or their representatives specifically entrusted to do so.

28. The offer for broadcast time will be submitted to the Tele-radio Moldova Company within 48 hours of the registration of the electoral contestant. Other channels will accept such applications within 72 hours of contestant’s registration.

29. The broadcast time will be allotted to electoral contestants within 12 hours of their application and in the order of their application receipt.

30. The free TV shows will be produced with the electoral contestants’ own means. They may be assisted by the TV channel and allowed to use TV studios for live shows.

31. If they wish, electoral contestants may hire TV channels against a fee to film, mount, and do computer graphics for their electoral shows and publicity spots.

32. The TV channels will guarantee confidentiality of all electoral material up to the moment of the broadcast.

33. The themes and form of the video materials broadcast by electoral contestants during their airtime are up to them. They are fully accountable, according to current laws, for the messages and statements that they make during the broadcast time allotted to them according to the Electoral Code.

34. During the electoral campaign for the general local elections, the TVM1 Channel will allot, free of charge, 4 minutes to all party, socio-political organisation and electoral bloc registered as electoral contestants for councilors by the respective district electoral council, and 2 minutes to independent candidates running for councilors and to individuals running for mayor.

35. The public local TV channels will offer 10 minutes broadcast time free of charge for the entire electoral period to all parties, socio-political organisations and electoral blocs registered as electoral contestants for councilors by the respective district electoral councils, and 5 minutes to independent candidates running for councilor and to individuals running for mayor.

36. The free broadcast time allotted per electoral contestant may not exceed 2 minutes daily time per TV channel.

37. The paid broadcast time allotted for electoral publicity both on public and private TV channels may not exceed 2 minutes daily time per electoral contestants per TV channel.

38. The TV broadcast time will be allotted to electoral contestants after their registration with the relevant district electoral council.

39. The ceiling of paid TV broadcast time per electoral contestants for the entire electoral period is 75 minutes.

40. The minimum duration of an electoral publicity spot broadcast on TV channels is 20 seconds.

41. The video electoral material will be broadcast according to the schedule of publicity broadcasts.

42. The TVM1 Channel offers the following times for broadcasting to electoral contestants:

• "Elections - 2003" - 19.40-20.00
• "Electoral publicity" - 21.40-22.00
• "Good Morning!" - 07.30- 07. 35

43. Whenever necessary, the Tele-radio Moldova Company will determine additional broadcast times, in co-ordination with the Central Electoral Commission.

44. The coverage of the electoral campaign will be also done in the special reports "Elections". They will include information both on the preparation and the holding of the electoral campaign, as well as communiques, information and reports from the Central Electoral Commission and the district electoral councils. The reports will be broadcast by the TVM1 Channel during the night news bulletins "Night News" (Rus.), "Night News", (Rom.) and "News" (Rom.).

45. The TV channels will monitor the electoral shows and will create a special file where they will keep all electoral messages and shows broadcast on the previous day.

III. Terms and broadcast time for electoral agitation on radio channels

46. Radio channels will allot free and paid airtime to electoral contestants from the very start of the electoral campaign, according to the Electoral Code.

47. Applications to radio channels for airtime will be made in writing.

48. The radio broadcasts may be produced by the electoral contestants themselves or by the radio channels in their studios.

49. Where shows are produced by the electoral contestants themselves, they are obliged to submit to the radio channel the tape with the complete record of the show, in accordance with the production requirements, at least 24 hours before the show.

50. In the electoral campaign for the general local elections, Radio Moldova will allot, free of charge, 8 minutes air time to all parties, socio-political organisation and electoral blocs registered as electoral contestants for councilors by the relevant district electoral councils, and 4 minutes to independent candidates running for councilors and to individuals running for mayor.

51. The local public radio channels will offer 20 minutes free air time to all parties, socio-political organisations and electoral blocs registered as electoral contestants for councilors by the relevant district electoral council, and 10 minutes to independent candidates running for councilors and to individuals running for mayor.

52. The free airtime allotted per electoral contestant may not exceed 2 minutes daily time per radio channel.

53. The paid airtime granted on both public and private radio channels may not exceed 2 minutes daily time per electoral contestants per radio channel.

54. The ceiling for paid airtime on radio channels per electoral contestant is 45 minutes for the entire electoral campaign.

55. The minimum duration of electoral publicity spots broadcast on the radio is 30 seconds.

56. The audio electoral materials will be broadcast according to the schedule of publicity broadcasts.

57. Radio Moldova offers the electoral contestants the following schedule for their broadcasts:

• "Morning Wave", interval 07.30 – 08.00
• "The Pulse of the Day", interval 12.30 – 13.00
• "Domains of Eutherpe", interval 15.15 – 16.00
• "Sound Frame", interval 19.30 – 20.00
• "Current microphone", interval 21.30 – 22.00
• Radio show for Chisinau "The City and Its People", interval 11.30 – 11.35 according to the schedule of shows.

58. Whenever necessary, the Tele-radio Moldova company may allot additional broadcast times, in co-ordination with the Central Electoral Commission.

59. The electoral campaign will be also covered in the special reports "Elections". These reports will include information on the preparation and holding of elections, as well as communiques, information and reports from the Central Electoral Commission and the district electoral councils.

60. The special election reports will be broadcast on the Radio Moldova Channel according to the following schedule:

• "The Pulse of the Day" 12.15 (up to 3 min.)
• "Radio Journal" (Saturdays and Sundays) 12.10 (up to 3 min.)
• "Sound Frame" 19.15 (up to 5 min.)
• "Current Microphone" 21.15 (up to 5 min.)
• "News: Dialogue with the Listeners" 11.00 (60 min.)

61. Radio Moldova and other radio channels will guarantee confidentiality of all electoral materials up to the moment of their broadcast.

62. The radio channels will monitor the electoral shows and will create special files where they will keep all messages broadcast on the previous day.

IV. Coverage of the electoral campaign in newspapers

63. Given the importance of the general local elections for the future of our country, the editors of newspapers will cover as largely as possible the electoral campaign and will create special columns dedicated to elections.

64. The editors of newspapers founded by the state will publish regularly the official materials released by the Central Electoral Commission and by the district electoral councils.

65. Both the publications founded by the state and the independent ones will provide to electoral contestants printing space against a fee; not more than one page to parties, socio-political organisations and electoral blocs, and not more than a quarter of a page to independent candidates. The fee for the granted space will not exceed the fees normally charged for commercial publicity.

66. The newspapers will offer equal publishing opportunities to all electoral contestants.

67. The editors of newspapers will decide independently the placement of electoral contestants’ materials.

68. For clearer presentation of the electoral materials, the editors will group them into columns and inserted them in pages according to their own designs.

69. The editors of newspapers will refrain from publishing materials by electoral contestants containing insults addressed to other electoral contestants, unfounded accusations, and other accusations affecting the personal dignity of other contestants.

70. Electoral contestants will be responsible for the contents of their published materials.

71. The editors of newspapers will guarantee confidentiality of materials until they are published.