The Central Election Commission (CEC) on September 6 approved the regulations concerning the covering of the election campaign prior to the October 30 presidential elections by the mass media, IPN reports.

CEC member Iurie Ciocan said that a number of changes were made to the Election Code after the elections of 2014, in particular as regards electoral advertising. The public broadcasters with national coverage are obliged to offer by five minutes of airtime on television and by ten minutes of airtime on the radio to each registered electoral competitor for presenting their electoral program. This airtime is offered separately from the airtime provided for electoral debates and electoral advertisements for money. All the payments are made with money from the electoral fund.

A novelty is that the two public broadcasters – “Teleradio-Moldova” and “Teleradio-Gagauzia” – are obliged to offer by one minute a day to each of the election runners for broadcasting their ads within the election campaign that precedes the presidential elections. Earlier, the election runners benefitted from airtime for the purpose for money only.

The regulations also define the method of holding the debates, the responsibilities of the moderator and the method of inviting candidates as well as the rights and obligations of the debate participants.

As regards the polls on electoral subjects, these cannot be published during the last five days before the elections and should be compiled in accordance with a number of requirements concerning the data collection period and the source of financing. Also, the CEC must be informed beforehand about the planed poll. A poll can be stopped if not all the conditions are met.

As regards advertising on the Internet and online debates, these should meet the requirements for the print media such as creation of sections “Elections 2016” and mention of the fact that the payments are made from the electoral fund.