Lawyer Eugeniu Rîbca on the Requirements of the Legislation in Force in Terms of Prices of the Election Advertising

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) published on Tuesday, 6^th of September, on its website – www.cec.md – the broadcasters’ statements on their editorial policy in the forthcoming election campaign and the “Regulations on the coverage of the campaign for the presidential election of the 30^th of October 2016 in the mass-media of the Republic of Moldova” were to be approved on the same day. The lawyer Eugeniu Rîbca wonders why the CEC precipitated the publication of the statements, before adopting the Regulations intended to lay the basis for such statements ? In this context, Eugeniu Rîbca refers to the provisions of the current legislation related to prices of the election advertising.
 
“The broadcasters’ statements on their editorial policy for the election campaign should be developed in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations on mass-media coverage of the election campaign and they should be submitted within 7 days as of the approval of the above-mentioned Regulations”, Eugeniu Rîbca states.

The lawyer founds his position on the provisions of Article 64¹, paragraph (2) of the Election Code: “Within 7 days as of the approval of the Regulations on mass-media coverage of the election campaign, every broadcaster shall submit to the Broadcasting Coordinating Council a statement about its editorial policy for the campaign, containing the name of the owner / owners of the institution. The statements shall be posted on the website of the Broadcasting Coordinating Council. The control over the observance of this obligation shall be ex officio conducted by the Broadcasting Coordinating Council, in accordance with the provisions of the Broadcasting Code of the Republic of Moldova”.

“I can just question myself rhetorically why the representatives of the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova rushed the publication of the dozens of broadcasters' statements on the editorial policy for the election campaign. They were maybe persuaded that their statements are compliant with the provisions … of the Regulations?" Eugeniu Rîbca says.

The broadcasters have included the costs of the political advertising in their statements submitted to the CEC. Those costs differ from one channel to another. For example, the cost of one minute of election advertising on the public television channel will cost 500 Euros and on the regional public television of Comrat - 600 lei. The following channels will have the highest rates: Jurnal TV - 1 750 Euros per 30 seconds; the General Media Group channels, such as Prime TV - 3000 Euros per minute, Canal 3 – 2 000 Euros and Canal 2 and Publika TV - 1500 Euro. The lowest prices for the election advertising will be charged by Gurinel TV – 10 Euros for 30 seconds; Busuioc TV - 50 Euros; AltTV - 60 Euro per minute.

The political advertising is an important source of income for certain mass-media, therefore, we asked Eugeniu Rîbca to comment on the legal requirements in force related to the costs of the election advertising. The first mandatory requirement, according to the expert, is to set equal and non-discriminatory conditions for all the candidates: “Low or high prices, but equal for all the participants in the election competition”. In this context, Eugeniu Rîbca referred again to the provisions of the Election Code, Article 64, paragraph 2 that stipulates: “The broadcasters and the print mass-media are compelled to set equal, non-discriminatory conditions while providing airtime or advertising space for election adds”.

Secondly, the legislation provides for setting equivalent or lower costs, than those charged for commercial advertising: “In parliamentary elections, presidential elections and national referenda, the public broadcasters shall daily provide to the electoral competitors one free of charge airtime minute for the election advertising. As for the paid political advertising, each candidate shall be awarded not more than 2 minutes per day per broadcaster during the election campaign. The conditions for the purchase of airtime and the respective costs shall be communicated 3 calendar days before airing of the electoral advertising. The costs of the airtime granted to the candidates may not exceed the usual fees for the commercial ads. All candidates shall be allocated airtime for paid election advertising at the same broadcasting hours” (Article 64¹ paragraph (5) of the Electoral Code).

At the same time, the lawyer points out that these provisions are often violated during the election campaigns: “How can these provisions be circumvented? The response comes from the practice of the previous elections: the costs of the commercial ads are exorbitantly increased 2-3 months prior to the start of the election campaign”.

In his opinion, the candidates are aware of the practice of increasing by (some) media of the prices for the election advertising (the usual costs of the commercial ads) in the elections held over the past years (such a practice was also known in 2011). In the process of amending and supplementing the Electoral Code of the Republic of Moldova, the political parties could have an efficient reaction to this issue, but there were no such reactions.