Comrat Executive Committee decides to telecast sessions to ensure transparency

The TV station in Gagauzia starts to broadcast live the sessions held by the Executive Committee of Gagauz-Yeri. This decision was made by Governor Mihail Furmuzal at the meeting with the director of “Teleradio” Gagauzia Company Ecaterina Jecov. Mihail Furmuzal told Info-Prim Neo that this decision was promoted in order to get people closer to the administration of Gagauzia and in order to create an attractive region for investments, with minimum corruption, financial decentralisation and fair elections. According to the same source, via the live transmission, the administration from Comrat wants to make its activity transparent and to get citizens involved in finding solutions. According to the governor, at present there is an informational gap in Gagauzia caused by the fact the majority of public TV and radio stations in Chisinau are Romanian, and few residents of Gagauzia know the language. At the same time, the press is not very demanded, even if it is published in Russian. In light of this situation, the expansion of the transmissions at the local TV station, which broadcasts only half an hour a day, is like a breath of fresh air for the inhabitants of Gagauzia. Furmuzal says he is aware of the fact that it is not easy to organise live transmissions, including of the meetings of the Execeutive Committee, but it will become possible with the help of investors from Turkey. “We do not have such a practice, but we can ground on the experience of European specialists and we will manage to fulfil this project. Head of “Teleradio” Gagauzia Ecaterina Jecov said that the broadcast of different cultural events, as well as the meetings of the Executive Committee will help common citizens to participate in the events which are close to them. One of the great advantages of this project is the expansion of the broadcast time and of the coverage area. Two months ago, the TV station was transmitting only in Comrat, while at present the signal covers 98% of the territory, offering newscasts in Romanian, Gagauzian and Russian. The decision of the administration in Comrat comes only several days after the Parliament suspended the live transmissions of its sessions on Friday, March 23. The initiative belongs to the Christian Democrat leaders Iurie Rosca and Stefan Secareanu, as well as one of the communist leaders Victor Stepaniuc. The live transmission of Parliament sessions was the only condition fulfilled out of those 10 presented by the People’s Christian Democrat Party when voting President Vladmir Voronin as head of state on April 4, 2005.