THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF RUSSIA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 27 ii. Whether the elections were “free” in so far as the media coverage was concerned 91. The Government maintained that the Court had only a limited role in reviewing the compatibility of the national electoral systems with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1. The Government also referred to the interrelation between the guarantees of Article 10 of the Convention (freedom of expression) and Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 thereto, and to the States’ wide margin of appreciation in establishing a fair balance between these two guarantees. 92. The Government contested the applicants’ argument that the principle of equal access to the media was formulated too vaguely in the law. This was a general principle and, consequently, could not be described in a more specific manner. Other provisions of the Russian legislation on elections were more detailed and left no room for interpretation. There existed various forms of publicity for candidates participating in elections, ranging from TV programmes to leaflets and posters. Candidates had equal rights of access to the State and private TV channels. All leading State broadcasting companies were required by law to provide candidates with a certain amount of free airtime, with no preference given to any particular party. Having analysed the financial statements of the opposition parties, the Government concluded that those parties had the financial resources to buy extra airtime but had preferred not to do so and had spent the money in other ways. The Government concluded that those parties had had ample opportunities to increase their visibility on TV channels, but had preferred not to do so for tactical reasons. The Government also analysed the pattern of spending from electoral funds by the applicants who had been individual candidates in the 2003 elections. The data showed that those candidates had spent more money on political advertisements in the press than on TV. 93. The Government further explained the difference between electoral campaigning and “information slots”, which were supposed to be neutral. The content of “information slots” depended on the number and character of “events” generated by a particular candidate. Those candidates and parties who had more events worth covering received more coverage in the “information slots”. The applicants had never complained that the TV channels had refused to report on a particular “event”. 94. Russian law achieved a fair balance between the freedom of the press and the requirement of free elections. That being said, the State could not control the editorial policy of the mass media. Accordingly, the limitations guaranteeing the neutral character of information slots did not cover all journalistic activity. 95. The Government referred to Recommendation no. R 99 (15) (see paragraph 53 above) which did not require that all candidates should have equal time on TV, but that their views must be made known to the voters. The Government concluded that the authorities of the Russian Federation