Judgment No. CCZ 14/201619 Const. Application No. CCZ 67/13 The Act provides ins 2A(l)(e) and {f) that its purpose is to regulate broadcasting services to attain, amongst others, the following objectives: "l(e) to promote public broadcasting services in the interest of the public; (e) to ensure the independence, impartiality and viability of public broadcasting services." Section 1600 of the Electoral Act [Cap. 2:13] requires a public broadcaster to afford all political parties contesting an election such free access to its broadcasting services as may be prescribed. The regulations by which free access to broadcasting services is prescribed are required to make provision for the total time to be allocated to each political party, the duration of each broadcast and the areas to which broadcasts made by political parties are to be transmitted. The regulations must ensure a fair and balanced allocation of time between each political party. They must ensure that each political party is allowed a reasonable opportunity to present a case through the broadcasting service concerned. Section 1601 which deals with conduct of news media during an election period, requires all broadcasters to ensure that all political parties are treated equitably in their news media in regard to the extent, timing and prominence of the coverage accorded to them. Not only is institutional and editorial independence guaranteed to the ZBC, the public broadcaster is required to act in an independent and unbiased manner in the selection and presentation of television and radio programmes. There is a provision prohibiting the ZBC as a public broadcaster from acting in a manner that favours the viewpoints of one political party whilst shutting out, as a matter of policy, view points of other political parties on matters of