10 COMMUNIST PARTY OF RUSSIA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT political party and the candidates put forward by it, that it was not possible to ascertain the genuine will of the voters. First, electoral law does not provide for any limitations on the number of electionrelated events organised by the political parties in the course of the electoral campaign; the number of such events depends on the political parties themselves. The only exception is the maximum amount of expenditure, which is the same for all political parties taking part in the electoral campaign and stipulated by law. However, the scope of media coverage of the election-related events of the political parties depends on the number of those events. Second, [the applicants] do not take into account that the coverage in question was conducted not only by five television channels but also by other mass media, in particular, radio stations and the printed mass media. Third, according to the [judgment of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of 30 October 2003, see applicable domestic law below], [the constitutional right to seek, receive, transmit, produce and disseminate information freely] shall not be unnecessarily interfered with. Fourth, the applicants’ arguments that there is an objective link between the amount of information about a political party disseminated by the television channels and the number of voters who voted for this party in the election are based on assumptions and are refuted by their own evidence. Fifth, having examined the transcripts [submitted by the applicants], the court concludes that the applicants classified the stories [related by the journalists on TV] as information about a certain political party on the basis of their own subjective perceptions, in particular on the basis of their wrongful assumption that all voters undoubtedly know that persons whose activities those stories covered belonged to a particular political party ... The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, in its judgment of 30 October 2003, explained that a condition sine qua non of electoral campaigning was dolus specialis, that is, a special intention to persuade the voters to support or undermine a certain candidate or political party ... The Constitutional Court noted that media coverage without that dolus specialis did not constitute electoral campaigning ... The court has examined the transcripts of news and analytical programmes broadcast by five television channels over 13 days within the time-period from 3 September to 7 December 2003. Examination of those materials shows that it is not possible to accept the applicants’ contention that the television channels disseminated materials about candidates and political parties capable of being classified as electoral campaigning in the course of the electoral campaign ... There are likewise no objective data confirming that the television channels had a specific intention to persuade the voters to vote for United Russia while covering the preelectoral trips of the leaders of that party. The same is true in respect of the television coverage of the speech of President Putin at the [United Russia general meeting in Moscow in September 2009]. The court also considers it necessary to note that, pursuant to section 6 of the State Media Coverage of the Activities of State Bodies Act, State audio-visual media shall include in their daily informational programmes information about statements, communications and press conferences of the President of the Russian Federation as well as other facts about the activities of the federal state bodies which are of public significance. The court disagrees with the applicants’ contention that the President of the Russian Federation conducted unlawful electoral campaigning in support of United Russia.