The monitoring of the regional public broadcaster Teleradio-Gagauzia during the election campaign for the November 28 early legislative elections revealed deviations from the legal, deontological and professional norms, says a report compiled by the Electronic Press Association (APEL) within the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on Wednesday, APEL executive director Ion Bunduchi said the politicians and public servants were the main protagonists on Teleradio-Gagauzia, both the TV channel and the radio station. The experts were neglected. Radio Gagauzia did not give enough attention to the ordinary people. Among the politician/public servants, Governor of Gagauzia Mihail Formuzal appeared most often in the news programs. As to parties, the PDM was featured most often on TV Gagauzia, but the PCRM enjoyed the longest presence. The APEL says Teleradio-Gagauzia committed a number of violations of the electoral and broadcasting legalisation as it organized no electoral program or debate. “A lot of work is yet to be done. It is true that the legalisation of Gagauzia does not stimulate the work of the journalists in the election campaign. At national level, the amendments made to the Election Code allowed the mass media to work on the basis of a permissive framework, while the campaign coverage regulations of Gagauzia remained restrictive. For example, it is the Gagauz electoral authority that decides who will be invited to the debates and programs on the local TV channel and radio station,” said Ion Bunduchi. In the monitored period, five election contenders placed advertisements on TV Gagauzia. The PLDM put the largest number of free ads, while the PDM – the largest number of advertisements broadcast for payment. Among the parliamentary parties, only the PL did not place electoral advertisements on TV Gagauzia, while among the extra-parliamentary parties – only the PPCD put ads. The report “Monitoring the coverage of the election campaign for the November 28 early legislative elections by public broadcasters” was produced with support from Soros-Moldova Foundation.