The October 8 Constitutional Court judgment saying the noncommercial organizations can provide services for money to electoral contenders during the electoral period is acceptable as long as there are no deviations from the legal norm, IPN quoted Maxim Lebedinschi, secretary of the Central Election Commission, as saying in the talk show “Direct Access” on NTV Moldova channel.
“We should take care of two aspects: for these services to be indeed for money and be transparent. I think we have one or two TV channels with the status of NGO. I do not see any problem if they place electoral advertisements for money. The second aspect should be taken into account here – that all the election runners should be ensured equal access to these services,” stated Maxim Lebedinschi.
This way, an important aspect of the CC judgment is the fact that the nongovernmental organizations should create equal conditions for all the electoral contenders, noted the CEC secretary.
“The fact that one has billboards and wants to place some posters on them is normal, but everything should be done in accordance with the law and in equal conditions for all. Either it is a TV channel or a radio station, they should ensure equal access,” stated the functionary.
Maxim Lebedinschi noted the current administration of the CEC will not accept the involvement of functionaries or other representatives in the campaign prior to the November 1 presidential elections.
“If there are situations when the NGOs can provide particular services that do not meet the electoral requirements, this would be hidden financing. We didn’t accept the involvement of charitable foundations in the electoral process, as in other campaigns, and it’s good that we now do not have such participation. If we speak about equal rules and transparency, this is acceptable. If these rules are ignored, it could be a problem indeed,” said the representative of the CEC.
He made reference to other recommendations of the CC by which the institution highlighted the involvement of religious organizations in the electable processes, introduction of instruments to enable the responsible authorities to impose penalties with immediate execution, such as the suspension of the right to broadcast throughout the electoral period for media outlets that do not obey the impartiality obligation in the electoral period and institution of prompt and immediate punishment mechanisms for any attempt to involve religious organizations in campaigning.
