Debates cancelled due to … TV equipment failure

Belarus-2 TV channel cancelled recording debates between parliamentary candidates due to equipment failure.

BelaPAN news agency learned this from leader of the United Civil Party (UCP) Anatol Lyabedzka.

According to him, his debate with candidate and acting MP Mikalai Samaseika was scheduled on the morning of September 3. “But they phoned me and said the recording was cancelled due to equipment failure,” Lyabedzka said.

Lyabedzka does not believe this version is true. “Last week, they recorded a debate between acting MP Svyatlana Shylava and me. I didn't call to a boycott, but I said that we have no elections and no parliament. I expressed our tough position. I think Shylava looked very weak. The TV channel either organizes urgent training for pro-governmental candidates to teach them how to behave in cameras, or it thinks how what to do with debates and how to get rid of this trouble,” Lyabedzka said.

In his view, “prerecorded five-minute debates are a shame for elections”.

Recording a debate among Tatyana Karatkevich, supported by Tell the Truth campaign, head of the Minsk City Council Mikhail Savanovich and former chief of the Belarusian National Bank Stanislau Bahdankevich was cancelled on the same ground.

As Andrei Dzmitryeu, the head of election office at Tell the Truth campaign and Karatkevich's agent, he planned to take part in the debate. “One can watch only football on Belarus-2 channel. Their equipment seems to have broken due to alternative opinions and uncomfortable questions,” he said.