Article 51. Election Campaigning, Referendum Campaigning on Television and Radio
1. Free air time on the channels of state and municipal TV and radio broadcasting organizations shall be provided to registered candidates, electoral associations, electoral blocs on equal terms and conditions (the amount of the provided air time, the time of airing, and other conditions). Free air time on the channels of state and municipal TV and radio broadcasting organizations shall be provided on equal terms and conditions after the official publication of the decision to call a referendum only to the referendum initiative group and other group of referendum participants that shall be formed by the leading bodies of public associations (their structural divisions) referred to in Clause 2, Article 42 of this Federal Law, provided that the lists of candidates nominated by them were included in the distribution of deputy seats in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and/or, in accordance with the level of the referendum, in the legislative (representative) body of state power of a subject of the Russian Federation, representative body of local self-government.
2. National and regional state TV and radio broadcasting organizations shall provide free air time to registered candidates, electoral associations, electoral blocs for election campaigning at elections of federal bodies of state power, and to the initiative group for holding a referendum of the Russian Federation and other groups of referendum participants referred to in Clause 1 of this article for campaigning on the questions of the referendum of the Russian Federation. Regional state TV and radio broadcasting organizations shall provide free air time to registered candidates, electoral associations, electoral blocs for election campaigning at elections of bodies of state power of subjects of the Russian Federation, and to the initiative group for holding a referendum of the subject of the Russian Federation and other referendum participant groups referred to in Clause 1 of this article for campaigning on the questions of the referendum of the subject of the Russian Federation. Municipal TV and radio broadcasting organizations shall provide free air time to registered candidates, electoral associations, electoral blocs for election campaigning at elections of bodies of local self-government, and to the initiative group for holding a local referendum and other referendum participant groups referred to in Clause 1 of this article for campaigning on the questions of the local referendum. Free air time so provided must be provided in prime time when the television and radio audiences are the biggest, as determined by the relevant TV and radio broadcasting organization.
3. The total amount of free air time to be provided for election campaigning, referendum campaigning by each national state TV and radio broadcasting organization on each of its channels shall be not less than 60 minutes on working days. The total amount of free air time to be provided for election campaigning, referendum campaigning by each regional state TV and radio broadcasting organization on each of its channels shall be not less than 30 minutes on working days and, if the total broadcasting time of a TV and radio broadcasting organization is less than two hours a day, not less than one-fourth of the total broadcasting time. If, as a result of providing free air time, each registered candidate, each electoral association, each electoral bloc that nominated a registered list of candidates, each referendum initiative group or each other group of referendum participants referred to in Clause 1 of this article gets more than 60 minutes of free air time, the aggregate amount of free air time that each of the TV and radio broadcasting organizations provides for campaigning shall be reduced to total 60 minutes multiplied, respectively, by the number of registered candidates, electoral associations, electoral blocs that nominated registered lists of candidates, by the number of groups that have been granted the right to campaign on the referendum questions.
4. Not less than a half of the total amount of free air time shall be provided to registered candidates, electoral associations, electoral blocs exclusively for joint debates, "roundtables" and other joint campaigning events. This rule shall not apply if each registered candidate receives less than five minutes of the total amount of free air time. Registered candidates (including those on the lists of candidates) may participate in joint campaigning event only in person, while representatives of a registered candidate shall not participate in such joint campaigning event save as otherwise provided by law. At a referendum, not less than a half of the total amount of free air time shall be provided to the referendum initiative group, other referendum participant groups referred to in Clause 1 of this article for joint debates, "roundtables" and such other joint campaigning events.
5. A candidate, an electoral association, electoral bloc, a referendum initiative group may refuse to participate in a joint campaigning. In this case, the air time allocated for this joint campaigning event shall not be reduced, save the case where as a result of such refusal only one participant is able to participate in this campaigning event. At his request, the participant shall be provided free air time within his share calculated by dividing the air time made available for the joint campaigning event by the total number of the planned participants in this event. Refusal by a registered candidate, an electoral association, electoral bloc, referendum initiative group from participation in a joint campaigning event shall not increase the amount of free air time to which they are entitled.
6. State and municipal TV and radio broadcasting organizations shall reserve air time to be acquired on a paid basis for election campaigning, referendum campaigning. The rates and the terms of payment shall be the same for all registered candidates, electoral associations, electoral blocs that nominated registered lists of candidates, the referendum initiative group and other groups of referendum participants. The total amount of air time to be reserved shall be equal to the established total amount of free air time or exceed it but not more than by a factor of two. A registered candidate, the said electoral association, electoral bloc, the referendum initiative group, other groups of referendum participants shall be entitled, for a charge, to a part of the total amount of reserved air time, calculated by dividing this total amount by the total number of registered candidates, the said electoral associations, electoral blocs, the number of groups having the right to conduct referendum campaigning, respectively.
7. The provision of extra free and paid air time on equal conditions to electoral associations, electoral blocs that nominated registered candidates may be established by law.
8. Non-state TV and radio broadcasting organizations that have satisfied the provisions of Clause 6, Article 50 of this Federal Law, shall provide air time to registered candidates, electoral associations, electoral blocs that nominated registered lists of candidates, to the referendum initiative group, and other referendum participant groups on equal conditions (in particular, in terms of the time of airing).
9. Transmission of propaganda materials on the channels of TV and radio broadcasting organizations shall not be interrupted by transmission of other TV and radio programs, other propaganda materials.
10. Any other terms and conditions of election campaigning, referendum campaigning on television and radio shall be regulated by law.
