Community Media/Radio/Governance UNESCO Workshop/Election rules

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General rules of conduct for community radios during elections

1. The Community Radios shall be involved in electoral processes through the production and transmission of programmes to educate the listeners and to make them aware, as citizens with duties and rights established in accordance with the law.
2. The radio campaigns of electoral civic education shall be promoted in close collaboration with the relevant bodies, namely the Election Commissions (National, Provincial, District or City) and STAE, according to the location and range of each radio station, and in observance of the Press Law.
3. In the framework of the electoral civic education campaigns, the programmes shall be produced to focus on relevant materials on:
   1. Active citizen participation in electoral processes as a right and a civic duty, in accordance with the law:
   2. The procedures, dates and places for voter registration;
   3. The procedures, dates and places for the municipal and for general and presidential elections;
   4. The procedure, dates and places for voting;
   5. The bodies that direct and administer electoral processes (CNE and STAE)
4. In the production of radio programmes, the Community Radios shall refrain from using political propaganda materials (texts, posters, cassettes etc) of political parties, coalitions of political parties or candidates for political office at any level.
5. Under no circumstances shall Community Radios offer, grant, sell or transmit broadcasting time, in the form of press statements, reading of political propaganda messages, speeches or interviews of political parties, coalitions of political parties or candidates to political office.
6. The Community Radios may transmit announcements from Political Parties, Coalitions of Political Parties or candidates for political office, without any propagandistic content or purpose, but clearly identified as paid advertising, with the maximum duration of one minute per announcement.
7. Journalistic coverage of election campaign activities should be limited to the transmission of factual news items and without any comment.
8. No Community Radio journalist or newsreader shall charge, receive or accept payments or “gratifications” of any kind, made by or in the name of Political Parties, Coalitions of Political Parties or candidates for political office.
9. No Community Radio journalist or newsreader shall be personally involved in election campaigns without first renouncing publicly and in writing his/her working ties with the respective radio station.
10. The Community Radios grouped under the NCRC of Mozambique, and who have subscribed to these Ten General Rules of Conduct, make a strong appeal to the Political Parties, coalitions of Political Parties, candidates, the electoral bodies and other relevant forces to collaborate in the strict observance of these principles for the harmonious establishment of peace and democracy in our country.

Mozambique, 2003 – Community Radio Coordination Nucleus (NCRC)

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