Homel: Radio Station Doesn’t Broadcast Speech of Oppositional Candidate

Source: www.charter97.org

A state-run radio station in Homel has refused to broadcast a pre-recorded speech by Uladzimir Shytsikau, a member of the Christian-Democratic Party BPF who is running for the city soviet. A deputy head of the radio station called Mr. Shytsikau on Wednesday, offering apologies and explaining that the central election commission had banned the network from airing the speech for the second time.

Dzmitry Balakhonau, chief editor of the station, denied that the network had offered apologies to the candidate. ‘No one apologized as we’re not at fault’, he said. ‘We just informed the candidate that we couldn’t give him airtime for the second time because of the central election commission’s decision. All speeches were examined by the city election commission. It questioned the contents of this speech and sent it to Minsk. The central election commission officially notified us that Mr. Shytsikau’s speech violated Articles 47, 49 and 75 of the Election Code. We cannot but comply with the decision.’