Requirements on Election Campaign Materials

Requirements regarding election campaign materials inside the Russian Federation

1. The purpose of election campaign is to convince voters to cast a ballot for or against a particular candidate.

2. Election campaign materials include:

• appeals to vote for or against a particular candidate (or candidates);
• expressions of support for a particular candidate or the nominating political party, specifically, identifying which candidate the voter should support (with the exception of publishing opinion poll results);
• descriptions of potential consequences of choosing or not choosing a candidate;
• dissemination of information with clear dominance of evidence in support of a particular candidate or the nominating political party, combined with positive or negative comments;
• dissemination of information about a candidate's personal matters which are not connected with their professional responsibilities or the execution of official duties;
• activities conducive to the formation of positive or negative impressions regarding the candidate, the candidate's political party or the nominating political party.

3. In campaign materials, it is prohibited to mention or promise any material encouragement (bribery), such as:

• delivery of financial funds, gifts, and other things of value, aside from the performance of organizational work (collecting voter signatures, referendum participants and campaign work);
• compensation to voters who performed organizational work, depending on voting results or promises to provide compensation;
• conducting a preferential sale of goods or free distribution of any goods except printed materials (including illustrated materials) and pins, specially prepared for election campaigns;
• provision of any free services or with preferential conditions;
• impact on voters through promises of providing monetary funds, valuable papers and other material goods (including based on the voting results).

4. Campaign materials cannot contain commercial advertisements.

5. Campaign materials must be presented by the candidate or the political party that nominated the federal list of candidates to the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation or to election commissions of the Russian Federation districts where campaign materials will be distributed.

6. Images of people under 18 at the moment of the election/referendum are prohibited from being used in campaign materials.

7. If campaign materials contain personal images and/or individual statements about the candidate or nominating political party, they are placed with the written agreement, which contains consent to use the images and quotes of the person.

This requirement does not apply to:

• the usage of statements from the candidate about their nominating political party by the nominating political party;
• the usage of published statements about the candidate or the nominating political party mentioning the publication date and source of the statements;
• the citation of statements about the candidate or the nominating political party published by other candidates or political parties in their own pre-election campaign materials;
• the usage of personal images by the candidate and the usage of images of the candidate by the nominating political party as well as with their families, including children under 18, parents, other close relatives and when the candidate is among an undefined group of people.

8. Audiovisual campaign materials (except those that consist of a single, static frame) must contain:

• the name, legal address and taxpayer identification number of the organization (surname, name and middle name, name of the Russian Federation subject, region, city, other locations of residence), producer of current materials;
• organization name (surname, name and middle name), purchaser of current materials;
• circulation information;
• date of issue information of these materials;
• indication of payment for prepared campaign materials from a specific election or referendum fund.

9. Campaign materials must be prepared on the Russian Federation territory.

10. Concluding the agreement for campaign material distribution

The agreement may be concluded with the candidate, the authorized representative on financial matters for the candidate, authorized delegates, appointed by the candidate, electoral associations from the moment of registration in the relevant certified election committee, or with the party that nominated the candidate. At the municipal election level: with electoral associations or political parties. As well as the following types of public associations whose statuses provide for electoral participation: public organizations and social movements.

Meanwhile, payment for services should be made from a special electoral account opened at Sberbank with funds from the candidate's election fund. The advertiser guarantees the fulfillment of this condition and is independently responsible for its implementation.
-with other entities (advertising agencies), provided that the agency has an agreement with the listed persons, payment is made from a special electoral account opened at Sberbank.

List of required documents to conclude the agreement:

• The Russian Federation Central Election Commission decision on registering a candidate.
• Notification of sending advertising materials to the election commission and opening of the account.
• If the candidate's authorized financial representative acts on behalf of the candidate, it is necessary to request:
  • The Russian Federation Central Election Commission decision on registering an authorized representative for financial matters of the candidate.
  • Notarized power of attorney for the authorized representative for financial matters of the candidate (scanned copy)
• Notify the Russian Federation Central Election Commission about sending the agreement if it is necessary in accordance with clause 7 of these Requirements.

To coordinate campaign advertisements on the territory of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to send all mandatory documents to Support.