Chief Returning Officer Lazaros Savvides has reported to the Attorney-general three local newspapers for breaking the law by publishing opinion polls after the set deadline.
It is now up to the AG to decide whether to prosecute.
The papers printed a CyBC-commissioned poll on Sunday. The deadline designated by the Attorney-general for this coming Sunday’s (May 22) parliamentary elections was midnight of last Saturday.
By law, the deadline for publishing opinion polls is defined as seven days prior to election day. It applies to all media: print, television, radio and electronic.
CyBC had initially planned to air the poll on Sunday, but pushed it forward to Saturday after consulting with the Attorney-general’s office.
The likelihood of the offending newspapers being unaware of the Saturday deadline was “zero”, said Savvides.
In fact, Assistant Chief Returning Officer Demetris Demetriou had met with the editors of one of the newspapers to discuss the very issue. The editors were warned that publishing the CyBC poll would be in violation of the law. The paper subsequently printed the survey anyway, Savvides said.
An identical violation by the print media was reported to the Attorney-general in 2006 for the legislative elections of that year.
The Attorney-general took no action at the time. Savvides said he did not recall any instance where a media outlet or newspaper has been prosecuted.
The penalties provided by law are a prison sentence of up to six months and/or a fine of €850 – small change for news organisations.
Meanwhile, the head of the Cyprus Progressive Partnership (KYPROS) party said yesterday it has informed a delegation of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) about the “flagrantly unequal and scandalous treament” it is receiving by the media and bby pollsters.
The OSCE team is currently on the island observing the run-up to the elections as well as actual voting this coming Sunday.
The newly-established KYPROS party is fielding 28 candidates in the six electoral districts. Its head Thekla Petridou has said polling companies are leaving their party out of surveys, and plans to take legal action.
She also accused the state broadcaster of breaking the law by denying KYPROS any exposure, and further charged that all the parties in parliament – with the exception of the Greens – refuse to appear on panel shows on private television if KYPROS representatives happen to be invited.
