The President of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Bernd Borchardt, called on all parties in the elections to “have equal access to the media.” And to ensure that all electoral subjects get a specific and equal amount of free time.
In a meeting with parliamentary and non-parliamentary opposition parties, Borchardt said Article 84.1 of the Electoral Code should be repealed and the broadcasting of political advertisements in the news should be banned.
“The media should be able to independently cover the activities of competing electoral subjects, in order to limit the use of chronicles produced by political parties themselves in news editions and to avoid misleading voters. In any case that the media uses materials produced by political parties, they must be clearly labelled as such “, he said.
Borchardt also said campaign spending should remain limited and that the law should guarantee that the Central Election Commission has the power to effectively oversee and ensure the implementation of party and campaign funding provisions.
ODIHR had previously criticised Albanian media for its coverage on the run up to the 30 June election.
