Chisinau, July 1 (Infotag). Mihai Severovan, an independent candidate for Chisinau Mayor, has stated that Moldova-1 public service broadcaster practices censorship and discredits election participants. Today, he convened a news conference in Infotag, and described a scandal that had broken out earlier this week.

“My electioneering agents officially addressed Moldova-1 to telecast an electoral clip which contained, in particular, some elements from the program of Zdob si Zdub, Moldova’s leading rock group, which showed that program at the Eurovision Somg Contest 2005 in Kiev last May. The Moldova-1 administration did not only refuse to accept that clip thus acting as a judge and a advocate of the rock group, but even behaved as if it is an electoral board and the Audiovisual Coordinating Council. The company has thus launched a media campaign against myself and my team”, stated Mihai Severovan.

He maintained the TV channel had no legal ground whatever to complain to the Chisinau District Electoral Board, because as per the legislation in force the entire responsibility for electoral clips’ contents is on the candidate concerned. So, all such disputes are to be settled by the Central Electoral Commission.

“I am convinced Moldova-1 by acting as an electoral organ, Moldova-1 has exceeded office. Furthermore, the channel has simply discredited me, and this a breach of the Electoral Code, too”, stated Mihai Severovan.

He underlined that all electoral candidates used music in their clips, so according to the channel’s logic, all of them are supposed to conclude contracts with composers and musicians for using this or that tune. As there are no such contracts, Moldova-1 should, theoretically, stop telecasting all clips. But, strangely, it chose to quarrel only with Mihai Severovan.

Severovan qualified this as an injustice and discrimination, demanded public apologies, and if not – he said he might decided to sue the National Television channel in court.