OSCE Report on June 1998 General Election in the Czech Republic
The final OSCE report on the Czech elections is
here.
It is pretty dull stuff in the end. Here are the key bits: (Andrew Stroehlein)
OSCE
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
CZECH REPUBLIC
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
19 AND 20 JUNE 1998
...
There were allegations that the recently-appointed head of Czech Television's
News and Current Affairs Department had to resign after only 51 days in
office because his "Wester" approach disturbed both his colleagues and
the political elite. This sparked critical comments from many experts,
but direct pressure from political quarters could not be proven. Still,
this incident raised concerns over CT's journalistic independence. Besides,
radical and small parties alike complain that they are ignored by the media
outside campaign periods, and some analysts say those complaints are not
unfounded. But despite all problems, the media generally operate freely
and independently, and on the whole, they provide balanced and accurate
information. This was also true for the recent election campaign.
...
Czech Televisions coverage was characterized by a very equitable approach
towards all parties. The range of coverage was between 5.0% and 11.7% on
CT1, and between 5.2% and 9.2% on CT2. This is largely due to the fact
that both channels ran special broadcasts in which they aimed at giving
all parties an equal opportunity to present their views. The Christian
Democrats and the Freedom Union received relatively high amounts of coverage
because several of their leading members were in the Tosovsky government.
The tendency of coverage on Czech TV was largely neutral. The only parties
to receive a significant amount of negative coverage were the ODS and the
Republicans (both on CT1), the former because of their election campaign
(especially in connection with the Lucie Bila concert in Prague) and the
latter because of their position vis-a-vis the Roma minority. Overall,
CT provided very balanced coverage both in quantitative and qualitative
terms and gave small parties in particular a fair chance to present themselves
to the electorate.
...
Overall, the media succeeded in providing comprehensive campaign coverage.
Czech Television in particular lived up to its role by providing all 13
parties with equitable access and by its largely balanced coverage. The
private media naturally focused more on the major parties. Although political
preferences of the individual media were apparent in the way they covered
the campaign, there were virtually no cases of unfounded negative reporting.
Usually, parties received negative coverage because of their campaign platforms
and political records. Slander and defamation were conspicuously absent
from Czech media during this campaign. In this respect, the coverage of
the private media can also be regarded as satisfactory. Finally, overt
political pressure on media was no issue in this campaign.
12. RECOMMENDATIONS
The provision regulating party registration needs to be clarified.
It should be made clear which parties are in fact registered to contest
the election. Only these parties should be given the responsibilities and
benefits of a registered party, such as free campaign airtime and positions
on election boards.
A facility enabling Czech citizens outside of the country on the day
of the election to vote should be considered.
The body responsible for organising the election, at present the National
Election Board, needs to be given authority to issue binding instructions
regarding the implementation of the law. This will ensure full conformity
of decision making at all levels of election administration.
The law should include a clear legal mechanism for dealing with violations
of the law, with an appropriate authority identified for dealing with such
violations. In addition, the law should articulate the penalties for violations.
The law should provide for international observers, in accordance
with the Czech Republics commitments as an OSCE participating State. Legal
provisions for domestic observers would also enhance the transparency of
the election process. All observers should be given full access to all
aspects of the election process.
Laws relating to the election, including provisions regulating media
coverage of the election, should be consolidated into a more comprehensive
body of text, avoiding the need to refer to such a variety of legal texts.
