The Bhutanese Leading the way.
For the National Council Elections this year, the Office of the Media Arbitrator has asked all the media agencies, cable operators and the social media users to observe the rules and regulations of the elections.
During the election no media agencies are permitted to broadcast or publish anything that can be construed as campaigning before the instigation period. However, the candidates can proceed with the introductory session before filling their own nominations.
All the media agencies who cover the National Council elections 2013 are asked to sign a letter of undertaking with the Office of Media Arbitrator ahead where media permit will be issued by the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) and the media agencies must make sure that the roles played by the media and the media functionaries are to be balanced and fair which lead to free and fair elections.
Each candidate will be given a maximum of ten minutes broadcasting time on the radio and three minutes on television as per the space and the time schedule prepared by the Office of the Media Arbitrator. Each candidate will be allowed two minutes of audio segment for Radio broadcast and one minute of video segment for the television broadcast as per the agenda of the Media Arbitrator.
No media coverage, promoting candidates during the 48 hours preceding the polls and until the poll closes, will be allowed.
Sonam Wangmo / Thimphu
