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Electoral campaign

Electoral campaign

Campaign Period, Campaign Silence

Election campaign activities can be performed from the day the date of the elections is set until midnight5 June 2009.

The election campaign is aimed at influencing the registered voters by any means, in particular by the popularisation of the election programme, the candidates, the list or the nominating organisation, by organising election rallies, placing posters etc.

There is a campaign silence from midnight, 5 June 2009, until 7PM, 7 June, during which period any campaigning activity is forbidden. It is considered a violation of the campaign silence to influence the of voters, particularly by: free services provided for the voters by nominated or nominating organisations (organised transportation to the voting place, offering food or beverages), the distribution of party insignia, banners and flags, party symbols, objects with the picture or the name of a candidate, the placement of election posters, the provision of information that can influence voting intentions either electronically or otherwise.

The campaign silence is also violated when the forbidden activity is not done by a candidate or a party, even if it cannot be tallied on anyone: the mere fact of the violation of campaign silence is sufficient.

Related NEO statement:

2/2007. (III. 19.)

 

Posters

Until the end of the election campaign nominating organisations and candidates are entitled to produce posters without any permission. Posters are printed material that can be produced without any prior authorisation or notification. In other matters, posters are subject to the regulations referring to the press in general.

The following restrictions apply to the placement of posters:

a)   Posters can be applied on building walls, fences exclusively with the permission of the owner, or the tenant– in the case of property owned by the state or by the local administration – with the consent of the person exercising property management rights.

b)   The local government or the government of the capital in the case of Budapest can prohibit the placement of posters on certain public buildings or in a defined area of the public domain, on grounds of monument or environment protection through a decree. Posters are not allowed on or inside buildings, which host national or local administration authorities.

c)   About the installation of stand-alone election campaign advertising equipment, the laws referring to the utilisation of public domain must be observed.

d)   Posters must be applied in a way that they do not cover the posters of other candidates or parties, and so that they can be removed without causing damages.

Posters must be removed by those who posted them or by those on behalf of whom they had been placed by 7 July 2009.

 

Election rallies

Election rallies are public. The organiser of the rally is responsible for keeping order.

Premises and other necessary equipment for the purposes of the election campaign are put at the disposal of candidates and nominating organisations by the national and local administration bodies under the same conditions. It is forbidden to carry out the election campaign or to keep an election rally in buildings, which host national or local administration authorities, with the exception of localities with less than five hundred inhabitants, provided that there is no other community building available.

Election rallies are not subject of the laws of the right of assembly, therefore these do not have to be registered with the police, yet regulations concerning the use of public domain must be observed.

 

Media Campaign

In the period of the election campaign, broadcasters can release political advertisements with the same conditions for all nominating organisations. Opinions, evaluative explanations cannot be attached to a political advertisement. In other matters, the regulations of Law 1/1996 on Radio and Television Broadcasting will have to be applied in connection with the participation of broadcasters in the election campaign.

National public broadcasters will broadcast the political advertisements of political parties with a list free of charge on three occasions between 20 May 2009 and 4 June 2009, and on the last day of the campaign 5 June 2009.

Related NEO statement:

4/2008. (II. 12.)

Last modify: 2009.04.07.