TO THE ISSUE OF LIABILITY UNDER THE CONTRACT FOR THE PROVISION OF PAID PROPAGANDA SERVICES

Abstract

The article deals with civil liability of the parties of the contract for the provision of paid propaganda services from the perspective of Civil Law, and not Electoral Law, which is basically applied today. The authors state that in academic and practical literature the attention is mainly focused on agitation activity of mass media consisting in the provision of air time for candidates and printing propaganda materials. As for such document as a contract for the provision of paid propaganda services, it has not been studied at all. The authors focus their attention on the issue of hidden bribery of voters through the conclusion of a fictitious contract for the provision of propaganda services. They single out the criteria for qualitative execution of propaganda: conscientiousness of the performer; professional qualities of the performer; degree of completeness and reliability of information reported to the voter; degree of accuracy in accomplishment of the customer’s task. The authors conclude that civil liability should only be applied to the dissemination of information discrediting the honor, dignity and business reputation of the candidate during the election campaign.