MINSK, 22 August (BelTA) – Candidates to the Belarus' House of Representatives refuse to make pre-recorded statements on television, Chairman of the National State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Belteleradiocompany Gennady Davydko said in the Club of Editors-in-Chief show aired by the Belarus One TV Channel on 20 August, BelTA has learned.
According to Gennady Davydko, Belteleradiocompany has recorded statements of 84 candidates in Minsk alone. Six candidates chose not to come. He stressed that airtime is granted by the state free of charge “with only one goal which is to provide the voter with a choice.”
In Brest Oblast three out of ten candidates turned up on the first day of recording, and only half of the candidates recorded their statements. “In Minsk one candidate did not make a TV statement because he went on vocation. Few candidates come in Gomel and Mogilev Oblasts. 90% of refusals are made up by representatives of opposition parties,” he explained.
Director General of Minsk Novosti Agency Yekaterina Dubinskaya noted that there are almost no refusals from candidates on Minsk radio. “Minsk candidates are using these platforms to the full. Another question is how they do it. For instance, candidates of one of the parties present the same program,” said Yekaterina Dubinskaya.
Gennady Davydko expressed his opinion that in this case a member of the party “is lost within the party and feels just part of this party machine. Perhaps, the issue is about the party discipline.”
