Summary
A silent period may be instituted immediately in advance of polling day, allowing voters to exercise their franchise freely and without undue pressure.
Obligations
Election Parts
Criteria
- If a campaign silence period was imposed, it was reasonable in length
- If there was a campaign silence period, it was of reasonable duration
- Advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constituted incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence was prohibited by law, and the law was enforced
Quotes
- Member States may consider the merits of including a provisions in their regulatory frameworks to prohibit the dissemination of partisan electoral messages on the day preceding voting.
- All parties and candidates should normally cease active campaigning one or two days prior to polling day, allowing the electorate to weigh the options and to exercise their franchise freely and without undue pressure. However, in certain jurisdictions this may not be possible or adhered to for historical reasons.
- Regulatory tools, such as a campaign silence period to allow voters a period of reflection before election day, and limits placed on the publication of opinion polls immediately prior to elections, as well as rules prohibiting the publication of material likely to incite racial or religious hatred, reflect an overriding public interest.
- Where a ‘campaign silence’ is imposed in the period immediately before election day, it should be effectively and consistently enforced.
- It is also necessary to address the issue of the ban of political campaigns during the day before the election, whose nature clashes with that of the internet as an asynchronous medium, in which content is permanent and accessible to everyone at all times, without political parties needing to take any action whatsoever: political events, messages, videos, propaganda, etc. from the entire campaign are available to the citizen, including the day before the election.