“Functional campaigning” banned from Serbian media from today: 30 days before the October 25 elections

As of today, September 25, electronic media in Serbia may no longer report on the so-called “functional campaign” — official public activities involving public office holders who are candidates in elections, such as building inaugurations or construction launches — under the Law on Electronic Media (Article 62), UNS news agency writes.

The ban begins 30 days before the snap parliamentary elections scheduled for October 25; violations are punishable by fines ranging from 500,000 to 2,000,000 dinars.

The law sets other rules for the electoral process as well: media must give non-discriminatory airtime to all lists in the pre-election program; political advertising is allowed only in election blocks; media must publish advertising rates in advance, equal for all; for polls they must disclose the commissioner, methodology, number of respondents, margin of error and date of polling.

Public media services RTS and RTV must ensure free and equal representation for all political entities; the REM (Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media) bans negative campaigning and favoring those in power; office holders and candidates may not appear as moderators, presenters or journalists during the campaign; the REM may open an investigative procedure within 48 hours over possible campaign violations.

Source: Danas / UNS