Media monitoring ahead the presidential elections in Bulgaria

The Council for Electronic Media (CEM) and the Central Election Commission (CEC) have signed an agreement on media monitoring during the election campaign ahead of the upcoming presidential election on 25 October 2026, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) reported.

The agreement sets out the framework for specialised monitoring to be carried out by CEM. The monitoring will focus on compliance with key professional standards and principles, as well as requirements for objectivity, equal treatment and balance in programming when presenting political candidates and reflecting a diversity of views, in accordance with media and electoral legislation governing the conduct of the election campaign.

A total of 13 public-service media outlets will be monitored. The same number of commercial television and radio broadcasters whose programming includes news and current affairs content and which carry paid or free campaign material will also be monitored, CEM Chair Gabriela Naplatanova said.

She explained that the monitoring would seek to ensure that there is no hate speech or incitement to violence, that the right of reply is respected, and that the reputation of candidates competing in the election campaign is protected. She added that paid campaign content must be clearly identified as such. According to Naplatanova, CEM’s monitoring report will be completed within one month after the election.

The sanctions currently provided for by law allow the CEC to determine the amount of a penalty in proportion to the seriousness of the violation. The criteria for assessing the severity of violations are sufficiently well regulated by law, CEC Chair Georgi Horozov said.

In his view, the level of the sanctions is appropriate, sufficient and consistent with the objectives of the Electoral Code. Horozov stressed that the sanctions imposed by the CEC in cases of violations are fully compliant with the law.