g) Election Campaigns for the July 2013 Legislative Elections 131. According to the provisions of Article 67 of the Electoral Code, “recognised political parties, in accordance with the provisions of the political parties’ Charter, and independent candidates are authorised to organise electoral campaign meetings”. Similarly, Article 68 provides that “the electoral campaign shall be declared open fifteen days before the polls. It shall end twenty-four hours before the voting day”. Decree No. 2013-048/PR of 1st July, 2013 on the opening and closing of election campaigns set out the opening for Saturday 6 July, 2013 at 12 midnight and closure for Friday 19 July, 2013 at 12 midnight. Thereafter, and after the political agreement of 16 July, 2013, the campaign period shall be extended by four days, thus fixing the closing date for Tuesday 23 July, 2013. 132. The Electoral Code sets out the conditions for the holding of electoral meetings as laid down in Article 71 thereof: “Electoral meetings can only be held in a public place. They are prohibited between twenty-two (22) hours and six (6) hours. Notification must be given to the Prefect or the Mayor at least 24 hours ahead of time, in his/her office, in written form and during official working hours of the administrative departments”. 133. In accordance with Article 75 of the Electoral Code, “Any candidate or list of candidates shall enjoy equal access to official means of information and communication in presenting their programme to voters in compliance with procedures and modalities set out by the High Audiovisual Communication Authority (HAAC)”. Thus, from 3 July, 2013, the HAAC, under the supervision of a court clerk, started the balloting concerning the order to be followed by the political parties and independent candidates on State-controlled media (TVT, Radio Lomé, Radio Kara and Togo Presse) to present their messages to the electorate. It must be indicated that the allotment of time on air and the editorial space under this distribution is proportional to the number of candidates positioned by the political parties and party groupings. A precise timetable was prepared to that effect and the findings of CENI during the campaign revealed that all the means and instruments available were put at the disposal of the candidates to try to convince the electorate. 134. To provide assistance in informing the electorate, facilitate the voter’s choice and explain the voting process, the Electoral Commission (CENI) made available all the specimen on ballot papers covering all the lists of candidates immediately the campaigns started. With the exception of some technical specifications that were at the discretion of CENI, the specimen of the ballot paper were shown just like the final ballot paper in terms of the position of each candidate on the ballot paper list, 42