Electoral Commission members accuse broadcaster of political partisanship

Three of those nine members of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) accuse the TV station Eu TV of political partisanship, and the CEC leadership and the Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC) of not reacting to this situation, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Eu TV has been behaving as a real party-owned television station, especially in the last months – it offers most of the air time to the PPCD leaders, or denigrate their political opponents in the most indecent way,” Nicolae Garbu, one of the signatories of the statement, told a news conference Thursday. Garbu says there other broadcasters not observing the Broadcasting Code openly, especially the principles of political balance and pluralism. He says “they have intensified, in their programs, the political propaganda, since the parliamentary elections are approaching.” Garbu gave no names. He says three CEC members (Nicolae Garbu, Vasile Gafton and Mihai Busuleac) notified the CEC's management to ask the BCC to investigate the cases of broadcasting neglecting the Broadcasting Code, but nothing has been done. “A series of members are interested in not taking measures and tacitly support certain broadcasters. It's an influence from someone's behalf,” Nicolae Garbu says. Vasile Gafton told media he “would not like to criticize his colleagues.” After the conference, CEC secretary Iurie Ciocan, who attended the conference, told journalists “the reasons of this manifestation should be sought not in the Electoral Code, but in politics.” “Most of the CEC members are firm that the institution is not empowered to intervene into the editorial policy of broadcasters. Our powers are restricted to monitor the media, now when the campaign has not started yet,” he said. The CEC secretary added “CEC is going to monitor the media during the campaign on the basis of the respective regulation. If some broadcaster or other commits deviations, CEC will intervene to bring the situation normal.” When asked by Info-Prim Neo, director general of Eu TV Viorel Buzdugan rejected the accusations. “We're ready to work with CEC,” he said. BCC chairman Gheorghe Gorincioi was not to be found to comment the accusations. Two of the signatories of the statement were proposed as CEC members by Moldova Noastra Alliance, and one by the Democratic Party.