CEC chairperson Lidziya Yarmoshyna took part in the conference ‘Media Freedom as a Cornerstone of Democratic Elections’ organized by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Venetian Commission in Berlin on July 4.
Chairperson of the Belarusian Association of Journalists Andrei Bastunets also took part in the conference. Belarus was in the centre of attention because of Yarmoshyna’s arrival, the BAJ press service reports. The CEC chairperson had been blacklisted in the EU since 2004.
There are 27% of independent mass media in Belarus, the Belarusian CEC chairperson assured the conference participants. Candidates can pay for advertisements using their election funds and the CEC does not affect the freedom of the media. It only provides their participation in the election process, he noted.
Although there is almost a quarter of non-governmental mass media in Belarus, most of them are newspapers and magazines for light reading, Bastunets replied. Only about 30 editions cover social and political issues.
Besides Yarmoshyna and Bastunets, deputy head of the state building, local administration and regulations commission of the House of Representatives Henadz Hrytskevich and one of the leaders of the campaign Tell the Truth Tatstsyana Karatkevich took part in the conference.