The Deputy Head of the Belarusian Presidential Administration, Igor Buzovsky, has noted that the media (state run and privately owned) should provide equal opportunities to all candidates standing for a seat in the House of Representatives, speaking to heads of leading media companies and representatives of executive authorities
Candidates are officially permitted to begin pre-election campaigning on August 11th, including interaction with the media, as is a requirement of electoral legislation. Mr. Buzovsky stresses, “Parliamentary candidates should be provided with all opportunities for presenting their policy statements, which, I’m sure, will be thoroughly elaborated by candidates and their teams. This should be done professionally, with all candidates given equal opportunities.”
He emphasised that this applies to all media companies, including those who are independent and those working online. He added, “Some sources have already started promoting individual candidates and these PR activities obviously contain elements of pre-election campaigning.”
The Deputy Head of the Belarusian Presidential Administration underlines that evaluation of the pre-election campaign by election observers will depend on the professionalism of media specialists in covering the elections and the degree of their compliance with Belarusian electoral laws.
By Alexander Pimenov
Offering training in serious subject
Academy of Public Administration (under the aegis of the President of the Republic of Belarus) to promote ease and correct methodology during election campaign, thanks to IT
New software is allowing the modelling of more than 500 potential situations (some quite unorthodox) at polling stations, including a married woman being listed under her maiden name. Alexander Ivanovsky, First Pro-rector of the Academy of Public Administration, tells us, “Answers to this and many other questions are to be given by our training.” The software is programmed to reveal solutions to real situations which have arisen during previous election campaigns, from the formation of electoral committees up to the day of voting and the procedure of counting votes.
The Academy has been using simulations via computer training since 2010, with software updated over time, to improve its performance, and reflect changing conditions. The current format considers various nuances of previous election campaigns while being relevant to today’s situation.
By Maxim Osipov
