Severe Violations Of The Law: Exit Polls Posted On The Internet During Elections

• Polling institutes may lose accreditations

Three websites broke the Electoral Law by publishing exit polls long before the closing time of the polling stations on the day of the presidential election.

At half past six Sunday evening, Cosmin Prelipceanu urged the viewers of Realitatea TV to access the websites of Academia Catavencu and Vox Publica to take note of the polling institutes" estimates regarding the outcome of the election.

Indeed, the websites (including that of Realitatea TV) had published the exit polls made by CCSB, Insomar, CSOP and CURS at different times, starting that morning.

According to the legal counsellor Gheorghe Piperea, by referring to the respective websites, Realitatea TV committed an offense punishable by fine between 1,500 RON and 4,500 RON (which is not a deterrent in itself), and possibly by the revocation of the license to broadcast, considering the gravity of the offense.

Gheorghe Piperea believes that, although the websites appear untouchable as the Internet is not regulated by any law, their owners could still be held in violation of Law 370/2004, Article 19(5) regulating the presidential elections.

The National Audio-Visual Council (CNA) yesterday gave the television channel Antena 3 a fine of 7,500 RON for comments that the referendum organised at the same time as the presidential elections was favouring presidential candidate Traian Basescu. The CNA also fined Realitatea TV 5,000 RON for having broadcast footage from the press conferences organised on the matter of alleged election fraud and gave a warning to B1TV for having broadcast a televoting on Friday, 48 hours before the election day, which is against the law.

Nevertheless, the CNA did not touch the matter of the exit polls.

The polling institutes themselves are in a delicate position relative to the Standing Electoral Authority, which could revoke their accreditations over the information leakage.