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TS-LKD: The CEC cannot guarantee a fluid debate, it becomes a circus
Andrius Vyšniauskas, Chief of the Elections Executive Staff of the Lithuanian Christian National-Democratic Union (TS-LKD), affirms that the CEC cannot guarantee a smooth and high-quality organization of the debates, according to him, this important part of the elections just turns into a circus.
“We are not satisfied with the organization of the debate. It is obvious that in these elections the CEC failed to guarantee a smooth and high quality cycle of debates. It started everything on its own, which simply made such an important part of the election, the debate, in a circus, ”A. Vyšniauskas told Eltai.
The TS-LKD Chief of the Executive Elections Staff emphasizes that conservatives are also unhappy with the CEC’s approach to political advertising violations.
“The investigations have taken time, they do not respond to the complaints. Many ambiguities and problems would be solved with clear provisions from the CEC on what can be done, what cannot be done, how and where to mark things, such as how to behave on Facebook. All this is not there and it does not satisfy us. Finally, it is not yet clear whether the elections will be held in a more secure manner, ”he said.
“Lithuania – for all”: the CEC does not guarantee compliance with the principle of equality
Algis Krupavičius, leader of the electoral list of the party “Lithuania – All”, states that, in his opinion, the CEC does not guarantee equal elections. The professor who turned to politics has doubts about the distribution of candidates in the debate.
“The first complaint is the observance of the principle of electoral equality. No time may be allocated for the dissemination, grouping of lists of candidates by voting or any other means except as provided by law. And the law provides for an agreement of all the candidates or a lottery ”, he emphasized.
The politician is also not satisfied with the way the CEC informs campaign participants about ongoing discussions. According to him, informing the campaign participants about the debate was absolutely unsuccessful.
“Another key issue is to report on the discussions of the electoral campaign, first on the air of the national station. That information must first be secured by the CEC itself (…) Now that the information is fragmented, unclear, vague and does not reach the participants of the electoral campaign promptly ”, he criticized.
The politician also questions the CEC’s decision to select topics for debate without broader public debate.
“The participants of the electoral campaign could not influence the topics of debate in any way, they were selected externally and without any consultation, without opinion and without a vote of the participants of the electoral campaign. This is where you could really do the analysis of existing opinion polls, in which the public identifies what is important to them, “he said.
V. Čmilytė-Nielsen: The debate format is boring, but everyone gets a chance to speak
For her part, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, president of the Liberal Movement, believes that in the debates in this year’s Seimas elections, both the CEC and various television channels provide the opportunity to speak to representatives of all participating parties In the elections. Still, politics points out that the format of the debate itself, he believes, is boring.
“The question is whether such a mechanical organization of debates makes politics more accessible to viewers and contributes to quality, apparently not. The debate on this year’s Seimas elections on COVID-19 and all the other circumstances is in a very short time, so it really seems like there are many and the format is quite boring, “he said.
The president of the Liberal Movement also points out that the CEC receives a very high proportion of insignificant complaints for the misuse of political advertising, which, according to her, overloads the work of the commission and prevents it from focusing on serious electoral irregularities. V. Čmilytė-Nielsen is convinced that in monitoring this situation, it is necessary to adjust the regulation of the laws that establish political advertising.
“I think the regulation needs to be adjusted, it is already a matter for the Seimas and we will probably return to it in the new legislature, because now the politicians who participate in the elections are involved in the CEC’s interpretation of very small complaints, so Las more important things are sliding sideways, “emphasized the president of the Liberal Movement.
“Every statement or post on a social network by a politician or a person who wants to become a politician appears to be marked as political advertising, although in some cases it may have nothing to do with politics,” he added.
According to V. Čmilytė-Nielsen, the current regulation of the law on political advertising is somewhat inadequate. The politician points out that this problem was especially clear this year, when much of the Seimas electoral campaign was transferred to social networks and the Internet.
G. Kirkilas: The debate does not provide the opportunity to react to the positions of representatives of other parties
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Labor Party, Gediminas Kirkilas, is outraged that the organizers do not guarantee that candidates participating in the debate have the opportunity to react to the opinions of other parties. He is convinced that the statements of these politicians cannot be called a debate.
“It just came to our notice then. Just by giving a question, answers, etc., and without debate after that, in some debates you can’t even say an answer. This year’s debate, I would say, has been simplified considerably, already that there are no evaluations or political scientists (…), so their audience is low, “he said.
“LRT was still given the opportunity to respond, to adjust its opinion a bit, but as much as I participated in others, it only gives you one question, the answers, others also speak and everything goes on to the next question. I do not know if such a debate interests the voters, “said the politician.
However, the leader of the “social workers” emphasizes that all parties have equal opportunities to speak in political debates.
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