Electoral campaign for second round kicks off, candidates should contribute to fair, transparent campaign

The Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP) specified that the electoral campaign for the second round of the presidential elections begins on Friday and urges the electoral competitors to contribute to a "fair, honest and transparent campaign, which meets the democratic expectations of the citizens".According to an AEP press release, from the beginning of the electoral campaign for the second round of the presidential elections, namely May 9 - the date of the validation and public announcement of the results of the first round of elections by the Constitutional Court of Romania - until its conclusion on May 17, at 7:00 am, all legal provisions in force must be respected.The AEP specifies that during this period only certain types of political advertising activities and materials (campaign materials) are allowed, such as election posters, audio or video campaign materials broadcast by audiovisual media under the conditions of the law, advertising in the written press, online campaign materials, brochures, leaflets and other printed materials of the same category."Political competitors have the obligation to remove, by the date of the beginning of the electoral campaign, all propaganda materials used until that moment and which do not comply with the rules set by the legislation in force," AEP also informs.Moreover, the Permanent Electoral Authority reminds the presidential candidates that the use of discriminatory messages or slogans, messages inciting hatred and intolerance and any forms, means, acts and actions of defamation and religious or ethnic defamation and harassment is prohibited in the electoral campaign.At the same time, during the campaign, political campaign materials distributed by political actors must contain the following information (label):(a) an indication that it is political campaign material;b) the candidate or the political organization at whose request or on whose behalf the political material is prepared, placed, promoted, published, distributed or broadcast, namely the name and e-mail address, as well as the postal address of the candidate, when publicly disclosed by him or her, or the address of the headquarters, in the case of political organizations;c) a statement that the political campaign material has been subject to techniques of targeting or distribution of advertising material in the sense of Article 3(11) and (12) of Regulation (EU)2024/900 of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 13, 2024 on transparency and targeting in political advertising, where applicable;d) a statement that the amounts spent for the preparation, placement, promotion, publication, distribution or broadcasting of political advertising material come exclusively from the sources permitted by Law 334/2006, republished, as amended and supplemented;e) where applicable, a mention that the political campaign material has been the subject of an election promotion or a paid election promotion;f) the unique identification code of the financial agent registered with the Permanent Electoral Authority.AEP also specifies that complaints regarding the electoral campaign through very large online platforms are addressed to the Central Electoral Bureau for the election of the President of Romania in 2025 (BEC).The indicative model of the complaint, the list of very large online platforms according to the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2024/900, as well as the list of electoral offices competent to resolve complaints regarding the electoral campaign, other than those concerning very large online platforms, can be found in the Annexes to the BEC Decision no. 54D/26.03.2025, available at the following link: https://prezidentiale2025.bec.ro/decizii-in-aplicarea-unitara-a-prevederilor-legii/.