THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF RUSSIA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 7 television broadcasts and press reports contained elements of unlawful electoral campaigning against that political party. 23. On 23 September 2003 Mr Zyuganov (the leader of the first applicant, the Communist Party) complained to the CEC about Mr Putin’s speech of 19 September 2003 (see paragraph 18 above). On 26 September 2003 the CEC Working Group on Information Disputes examined that complaint and prepared a report; based on that report on 29 September 2003 the CEC chairman wrote a letter to Mr Zyuganov in which he explained that there had been nothing unlawful in that speech. The chairman explained that mass media could report on official statements of public officials and that such media coverage could not be considered as “campaigning”. The position of the CEC chairman was later confirmed by the Supreme Court of Russia in judgments of 16 December 2004 and 7 February 2005. A similar complaint to the prosecuting authorities also failed: on 10 October 2003 the Tverskoy District Prosecutor of Moscow refused to initiate administrative proceedings, referring to the CEC’s conclusion that Mr Putin’s speech had not violated any electoral regulations. The District Prosecutor’s decision was upheld by the Moscow Deputy Prosecutor on 24 November 2003 and by the Deputy Prosecutor General on 11 December 2003. 24. On 16 October 2003 Mr Solovyev (the seventh applicant, in 2003 a non-voting member of the CEC) complained to the CEC and to the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office about a television report by Channel One of 12 October 2003 which had stated that United Russia was “leading [in the elections] having left its competitors far behind” and that the Communist Party was “losing the voters’ support”. In Mr Solovyev’s submission, that report constituted illegal electoral campaigning. On 31 October 2003 the Ostankino District Prosecutor of Moscow refused to institute administrative proceedings in that regard. That decision was upheld by the Moscow Deputy Prosecutor on 28 November 2003. 25. On 22 October 2003 Mr Solovyev complained to the CEC about television programmes broadcast on 7 October 2003 featuring a friendly meeting between the United Russia leader and a well-known singer. The CEC found no elements of electoral campaigning in that broadcast, and the seventh applicant was informed accordingly by a letter from a CEC member dated 5 November 2003. 26. On an unspecified date Mr Zyuganov, Mr Solovyev and several other members of the Communist Party complained about the media coverage of the elections by Channel One and VGTRK period to the Working Group on Information Disputes. On 31 October 2003 the Working Group issued a report noting that VGTRK “had displayed a tendency towards deliberate and systematic dissemination of neutral or positive, or even complimentary, information about the events related to the activities of the United Russia party, while providing mainly negative coverage of the activities of the Communist Party”. As regards Channel One, it found that