South Africa is to hold municipal elections on 18 May. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) published Regulations on Party Election Broadcasts, Political Advertisements, The Equitable Treatment of Political parties by Broadcasting Licensees and Related Matters on 8 March 2011.
The purpose of the regulations is to prescribe a framework and guidelines under which Party Election Broadcasts (PEBs) and Political Adverts (PAs) shall be conducted and carried by broadcasting service licensees during the municipal elections.
The Authority would like to inform relevant stakeholders of how the process is going to unfold:
· The Authority will receive the final list of contesting political parties from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The list is expected to be released during the course of next week.
· Upon receipt of the aforementioned list from the IEC, the Authority will invite, to the briefing, contesting political party representatives, the public broadcaster and all broadcasting service licensees who have indicated interest in transmitting PEBs.
· The Authority will then convene an official briefing to allocate the PEB slots to contesting political parties; thereafter the Council of ICASA will announce the Election Broadcast Period.
This process will be followed by extensive monitoring of election coverage in terms of the regulations and licence conditions of broadcasters.
