Presidential 2022: Arcom's role in the election campaign

March 28 marks the start of the election campaign period, defined byarticle L.47 of the French Electoral Code.

Television and radio services must respect the principle of equal speaking and airtime under comparable programming conditions.

The principle of equality

The principle of equality is specific to the presidential campaign. It is a direct consequence of the legislation governing the election of the President of the Republic, which makes provision for equality between candidates from the start of the official campaign.

The principle of equality implies that candidates and their supporters have equal speaking and airtime (cf. article 3 of the law n°62-1292 of November 6, 1962 relating to the election of the President of the Republic by universal suffrage).

The "reserve period", the day before and on polling day

The day before and on polling day, it is forbidden to show any message having the character of electoral propaganda, as stated in the Electoral Code (paragraph 2 of article L49). No polls, results or electoral statements may be shown on air during this period, in order to avoid influencing voters' votes.

During this "reserve period", TV channels and radio stations may show documentaries on the voting of candidates and the personalities who support them, without giving them the floor. This ban also applies to Internet media.

Programs available prior to this date on TV channel and radio station websites or via an audiovisual medium on demand may remain accessible to the public.

The rule applicable to the announcement of results

In accordance with article L. 52-2 of the French Electoral Code, no results, partial or final, may be communicated to the public by any means before the shutdown of the last polling station in mainland France.

The major content-sharing platforms have acquired a major role in democratic processes. It is now essential that they demonstrate transparency in the measures they take to fight agains information manipulation phenomena, particularly during major electoral events.

Arcom's mission is to contribute to the fight agains information manipulation. To this end, it has drawn up a list of the means put in place by platforms in the run-up to the 2022 French presidential and legislative elections.