33. What criteria determine allocation for free or subsidized access to media for political parties?

(4) In the electoral campaign for parliamentary, presidential elections and republican referendums, the national broadcasters, whose list is made public by the Audiovisual Coordinating Council in the first 3 days of the electoral period, grant free electoral broadcasters 5 minutes of television and 10 minutes on the radio for the purpose of exposing the electoral programs and informing the voters. The respective airtime is offered in another broadcast space than the one reserved for electoral advertising and electoral debates.
(5) In the parliamentary, presidential elections and republican referendums, the public broadcasters grant free election to the electoral contestants one minute a day, airtime for the placement of the electoral publicity. For paid election advertising, each electoral contestant is given no more than 2 minutes a day during the election campaign on each broadcaster. The conditions for procuring the airtime and the respective taxes are communicated 3 calendar days before the election advertising is posted. The payment for airtime granted to electoral contestants may not exceed the payment normally received for commercial advertising. The airtime for paid advertising is granted to all electoral contestants at the same broadcast hours.
Source: Art. 70(4-5), Electoral Code, 1997 (amended 2020)

The Election Code, the Audiovisual Code and CEC regulations govern the campaign coverage. Parties and blocs running in the national constituency were granted five minutes of free airtime on all national TV channels and ten minutes on radio with nationwide coverage. In addition, they were provided with one minute of free airtime per day to place promotional advertising for the parliamentary elections on the public broadcaster and all broadcasters were required to offer them two minutes per day of paid airtime under equal conditions. The five parties registered for the referendum could also use one minute of free airtime and two minutes of paid airtime per day to campaign for the referendum.
Source: OSCE/ODIHR (2019) Republic of Moldova, Parliamentary Elections, 24 February 2019. ODIHR Election Observation Mission, Final Report. OSCE/ODIHR, Warsaw