Campaign advertising implies activities to prepare and disseminate information about an electoral candidate in the electoral period. Campaign advertising can consist of electoral posters, flyers and different forms of adverts broadcast through the mass media. Each electoral contender or participant in the referendum has the right to state their opinions in equal conditions since they are registered by the electoral body.
The contestants can appear on TV and benefit from equal and non-discriminatory treatment in the provision of airtime or advertising space for electoral advertisements, regardless of the form of ownership of the audiovisual institutions. Public broadcasters provide by one minute of free airtime a day for campaign advertising to electoral contenders registered by the Central Election Commission and to participants in the referendum.
Campaign advertising cannot be included in news, sports, children’s and religious programs. Responsibility for the content of electoral advertisements is borne by the election contestant. The broadcasters will cover the election campaign in the main news bulletins by making these accessible to persons with hearing and visual impairments through text messages, sign language, audio descriptions and other similar techniques.
Images representing state institutions or public authorities from the country and abroad or international organizations cannot be used in campaign advertising. It is not allowed combining colors or sounds that invoke national symbols of the Republic of Moldova or another state or using materials showing historical personalities from the Republic of Moldova or other countries, the symbols of other states or international organizations or the image of foreign officials.
Each advertisement should include the legible name of the election runner or participant in the referendum that ordered it. Each advertising insert should include the name of the contestant and credits and should be accompanied by the words “Paid from electoral fund”.
For paid campaign advertisements, each contender running in the national constituency is allotted 2 minutes a day throughout the election campaign at each broadcaster that covers the election campaign. Each contestant can receive 2 minutes of airtime a day for money. Airtime for paid campaign advertising is provided to all the electoral competitors without any discrimination. A paid electoral advertisement cannot be shorter than 30 seconds.
The tariff charged by the media outlets or advertising agencies for paid campaign advertising will not exceed the tariff for commercial advertising levied in the pre-electoral period. Campaign advertising and electoral ads distributed through the Internet, including those placed on the websites managed by broadcasters, and through mobile phones is assimilated to electoral advertisements in the print media.
To promote oneself, the electoral contender can obtain an area of one square meter in a specially laid out place, on a publicly owned billboard. These places are set by the local public authorities within three days of the start of the electoral period.
The contestant can also buy advertising place on publicly or privately owned billboards, including electronic ones, from advertising agencies. Each advertising agency can offer the electoral contenders space in equal conditions that should not exceed 10% of the space available for each contestant. In parliamentary elections in uninominal constituencies, the space for electoral ads or political promotion allotted to each contestant will not exceed 10% of the available space of the advertising agency in the given electoral constituency.
The electoral legislation bans placing electoral advertising in public units of transport carrying passengers, on monuments, buildings and other facilities with historical, cultural or architectural value, regardless of the form of ownership, on trees and buildings that house electoral councils and offices and at the entrance of these, on fences, poles and other types of constructions and on devices and equipment, regardless of the form of ownership, situated in publicly owned areas.
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The IPN division “Elections in plain words” is designed to explain notions, terms and practices related to the parliamentary elections based on the mixed electoral system and the consultative referendum that will take place on February 24, 2019.
