| By Alexey Eremenko
A Muscovite waiting at a bus stop sporting a campaign billboard
by United Russia. Ads by other parties fared worse, with elections
chief Vladimir Churov banning some despite having no power
to do so.
Campaign ads by opposition parties have been banned on state
television by order of the head of the Central Elections Commission,
who has no authority to do so, Vedomosti reported Monday.
Vladimir Churov's actions prompted a mutiny among the commission's
working group, whose job is to review such videos, but which
was only asked to do so after they were banned, the newspaper
said.
State-owned broadcaster VGTRK announced last week that it
was banning videos by Yabloko, A Just Russia and the Liberal
Democrats following a letter from Churov, who said he suspected
the ads promoted extremism and targeted other parties.
But only police or prosecutors can ban a video, while all
the Central Elections Commission is authorized to do is request
that a questionable campaign ad be examined, said the Communist
Party's head lawyer, Vadim Solovyov.
Elections officials also only asked the working group which
consists of unspecified media figures and elections experts
to review the videos slated for a ban last Thursday, after
they were already de facto banned.
In protest, members of the group refused to make any ruling
on the videos, robbing the ban of any expert backing, Vedomosti
reported.
Attempts to clarify the matter failed Monday. VGTRK deputy
head Dmitry Kiselyov, who oversaw the videos' removal, was
not available for comment, his press office said. A spokeswoman
for the Central Elections Commission, when reached by telephone,
asked for an e-mailed request for comment, which was not returned
in time for publication.
Anonymous Kremlin sources and election officials told Vedomosti
that the ban had been arranged by the Office for Presidential
Affairs. The office had no comment on the allegations.
One banned ad by A Just Russia accused authorities of hiking
utility tariffs faster than state pensions a move that elections
officials ruled fanned hatred toward "persons responsible
for such tariffs." By contrast, an online ad by the ruling
United Russia party that slammed "An Unjust Russia"
dodged prohibition.
See also:
The
original publication by the Moscow Times
YABLOKO's
banned TV add
YABLOKO's
banned add with criticism of Putin and Medvedev
Elections
to the State Duma 2011
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