The National Elections Board (Jurado Nacional de Elecciones, JNE) will impose a fine of 100 tax assessment units (Unidades Impositivas Tributarias, UIT), equivalent to 290 thousand new soles (approx. US$84,000), on Canal N for allegedly violating Elections Law No. 26859. This law prohibits media from disseminating information about voter preferences outside of the time period […]
The National Elections Board (Jurado Nacional de Elecciones, JNE) will impose a fine of 100 tax assessment units (Unidades Impositivas Tributarias, UIT), equivalent to 290 thousand new soles (approx. US$84,000), on Canal N for allegedly violating Elections Law No. 26859. This law prohibits media from disseminating information about voter preferences outside of the time period for publication established by the board.
Canal N is a closed-circuit television station and generally critical of the government. During the current electoral process, Canal N provided an opportunity to all political groups to express their views. The station is providing important coverage of the electoral process, focusing on the votersâ orientation. According to the JNE, the presumed offence that led to incurring the fine occurred during a 5 April 2000 forum held in the International Press Centre. The forum was organised by PROMPERÃ, a governmental agency, and partially transmitted live via Canal N. The directors of a number of Peruvian polling companies participated in the forum and expressed their views about the voter trends with respect to the presidential candidates.
The measure adopted by the JNE was made known in statements made to CPN Radio by a member of the organisation, Romulo Muñoz Arce. The information was later confirmed by José Carlos Bringas, a JNE officer, in an interview with the radio station. Bringas affirmed that even though there was still no written judgement, the decision had been made, and the respective notification will be made soon.
Gilberto Hume, Canal N general manager, informed IPYS that during the forum, PROMPERÃ officials advised the panelists that the electoral law prohibited them from mentioning poll results. After that, the presentations began with each participant allotted ten minutes to speak, with five additional minutes for a rejoinder. Afterwards there was a question period. Hume stated that in order to avoid breaking the law if one of the panelists disclosed their poll results, Canal N had previously planned to broadcast the signal from the moment that the question period began. However, Bernardo Verjovski, of the Analistas y Consultores (Analysts and Consultants) company, arrived at the beginning of the question period. As a courtesy, Verjovski was given some time to express his views on the topic. As he was unaware of the rules which had been imposed, Verjovski announced his results without giving time to Canal N to interrupt the broadcast.
Hume noted that what happened was unplanned and beyond the control of the television station because of the way in which events unfolded. According to Hume, the station provided an explanation to the JNE in a timely and responsible manner. “It was an involuntary act, but we were aware of what had happened, and we took it upon ourselves to communicate with the JNE and explain to them what had happened. We immediately made a video copy of that part of the broadcast, and send them a copy of our invitation to the event. The invitation clearly stated that the event was organised to discuss the trends of the electorate in Peru”, he stressed.
Hume suggested that the imposition of the fine is politically motivated and unjust. He noted that a decision has already been made despite the television stationâs immediate response, and despite the fact that the station has not had an opportunity to defend itself. He added that “other such claims have been filed against other media. For example, Member of Congress Xavier Barron filed a complaint against Radio Television Peruana (the State television channel), for broadcasting an Amauta political speech, and in an obviously partisan act, crediting Alberto Fujimori as president of the Republic. Not only has nothing happened in those cases, but the time to respond has expired and the JNE has not done so. Whereas in our case, for an event which occurred yesterday [5 April] despite the fact that we sent them a complete explanation of the situation, they have not summoned us to defend ourselves and we have already been fined,” Hume stated.
During the previous electoral process, two television channels were fined for prematurely broadcasting poll results. However, in that case, the fine imposed on both channels was only ten UITs, versus the 100 UITs fine being imposed on Canal N.
