34. Are there provisions for free or subsidized access to media for candidates?

Art 39.

[...]

Equal conditions of access to Mass Media are guaranteed to candidates and political parties.

[...]

Each candidate to deputies in the single mandate district has right to 20 minutes and each political party has the right to have 40 minutes airtime in the state radio and TV. 

(Constitutional Law of the Republic of Tajikistan, On Elections to the Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan, 1999, available at http://base.mmk.tj/view_sanadhoview.php?showdetail=&sanadID=6 accessed January 2018).

Article 5.

Expenses with regard to preparation and conduction of the election of the President shall be covered at the expenses of the budget of the Republic of Tajikistan.

Article 27.

Candidates to the post of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan from the moment of their registration by the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda shall participate on equal basis in the pre-election campaign, having equal rights for the utilization of mass media opportunities, including radio and TV in the territory of the Republic of Tajikistan. 

(Constitutional law of the Republic of Tajikistan on Election of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, 1994, available at http://base.mmk.tj/view_sanadhoview.php?showdetail=&sanadID=7 accessed January 2018).

Para: IX:  C. Coverage of the Election Campaign 

The PEL grants each nationwide list 40 minutes and each single-mandate candidate 20 minutes of free airtime on state-owned television or radio, slightly more than in previous elections. However, single-mandate candidates could not use regional or local state media to air their campaign broadcasts. The PEL does not stipulate when the free airtime should be broadcast or on which stations.

(OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Final Report, Parliamentary Elections, March 2015, Republic of Tajikistan, available at http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/tajikistan/158081?download=true accessed January 2018).     

Para XI: The Media

A: The legal Framework

The legal framework governing the campaign in the media is rudimentary.The PEL provides contestants with the right to participate on an equal basis in the pre-election campaign, including in the state media. It grants the CCER responsibility for creating equal campaign conditions. On this basis, the CCER passed a decision allocating 30 minutes of free airtime on one state broadcast media to each candidate. Proxies of each candidate were entitled to an extra 20 minutes of free airtime. Candidates were also equally allocated ten A4 pages of printed space in the state newspapers. The state media gave all six candidates (or their proxies) an equal share of free airtime for the presentation of their campaign platforms. The three nationwide state television channels (Shabakai 1, TV Safina and TV Johonnamo) each provided the candidates with some 30 minutes of free airtime, a total of 90 minutes of combined airtime per candidate (three times more than stipulated in the original CCER decision). Representatives of the State Committee for Television and Radio (SCTR) explained to the OSCE/ODIHR EOM that the additional free airtime candidates received was to compensate for time allocated but not used by candidates’ proxies. This initiative effectively by-passed the CCER decision.

(Source: OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Final Report, Presidential Election, 6 November 2013, Republic of Tajikistan, available at  http://www.osce.org/odihr/110986?download=true accessed January 2018).