Local TV station managers and representatives of electoral candidates discuss cooperation in 2009 race

For the first time in the history of the Moldovan elections, the local TV stations offer a joint offer to electoral contestants. The managers of 14 local TV stations, members of the Local Broadcasters Associations “Media Regional” from Moldova, and representatives of political parties discussed about cooperating in the 2009 race on Monday, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The goal of the action is determined by the importance of the qualified vote of the citizens for building a society based on democratic principles,” said Ion Bunduchi, the executive manager of the Electronic Press Association (APEL). “We associated into a single structure to become a single information source for citizens. We come with a single offer for political parties, and we want to mirror the race according to the provisions of the Central Electoral Commission and of the Broadcasting Code,” said Arcadie Maican, the president of the Local Broadcasters Association. “The topics proposed to be tackled cope with unemployment, prices, human rights, the Transnistrian conflict, the relations with the EU,” said Andrei Bargan, the manager of Media TV from Cimislia. Victoria Miron, the director of the Media Program of the Soros Foundation-Moldova, has said their intention is to cover elections in a fair and transparent manner, presenting the public the offer, program and platform of the electoral competitors. The association was founded in 2008. The debates will be organized in a project on supporting media by the Soros Foundation-Moldova with the financial support of SIDA.