STAFF REPORTER
ALL political parties were obliged to remove any electoral propaganda posted on walls and billboards yesterday to comply with law prohibiting further publicity until the start of the official election campaign on 6th May.
Reformed legislation, in force since the end of January, rules that from the time the State officially calls an election, until the start of the electoral campaign, all advertising and propaganda is banned. And it's not just posters that had to come down .... also prohibited is any further political advertising through insertions in newspapers and magazines, or through radio, television and other media.
Yesterday benchmarked the date of the start of the ban on propaganda through an announcement in the official State Bulletin that regional and municipal elections are to be held on 22nd May. Advertising can be posted once more on 6th May when the local campaigns begin.
Town councils around the country, including those in the Balearic Islands, had been asking who was responsible for taking down the billboards and posters to honour the pre-campaign ban. The Central Government department which oversees the electoral process said that it is up to the individual political groups to remove their own advertising.
However, the same department also let it be known yesterday that what will be allowed over the coming weeks are announcements to the public by whatever means about activities and meetings which have been organised by the party candidates in the run up to the election, and what members are on the electoral lists.
These events can be broadcast using private cars as long as there is no business contract made for the purpose or that no attempt is made to solicit votes through the process, says the new legislation.
The internet is also acknowledged by Central Government as a valid means of letting people know what the party activities are in the run up to the election and who the party candidates are. Websites and social networking can be used for the purpose as long as a third party business is not contracted. Similarly, the Government permits pamphlets showing such information to be distributed and the use of mobile phones to text details.
What is not allowed, even though both the Socialists and the opposition Partido Popular protested at the proposal, is that marketing material such as biros and key rings with the names of parties and their candidates be distributed.