Sochi voters and media editors: freedom of choice impossible without freedom of media

Editors of mass media, ready to provide room to candidates for the Sochi City Assembly (SCA), and city dwellers gave their comments on the way the election campaign was covered. Both groups noted restriction of the freedom of speech and opinion in the course of campaigning.

According to the City Electoral Commission, Sochi has 17 papers, ready to provide printed space to runners for the SCA of the fourth convocation, who notified the CEC about it.

The express polling of Sochi residents conducted by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has shown that most of them do not know these media.

According to political scientist Valery Suchkov, all the election campaigns are organized in Russia and in Sochi, in particular, in a non-civilized way. "They are aimed at misleading people, misinforming the population and imposing censorship, which is forbidden by the law."

"Despite the Russian Constitution and legislation," Mr Suchkov has emphasized, "the pro-imperious media that exist on taxpayers' money are used by the authorities to preserve their power that is, to suppress free media."

"It's abnormal that people don't know their candidates, while the majority of them are not local. The party in power is making use of its administrative resources and forces people to vote for whom the party wants," said the political scientist and added: "Our people are politically illiterate; they are far from self-organizing against lawlessness; while media lack courageous and competent journalists capable to objectively and professionally cover all socially significant events. Media have such journalists, but they are few, and their work is by all means hampered: they are criminally persecuted for slander and by means of civil processes, where huge sums of money are claimed as compensation."

Yuri Rykov, Chairman of the CEC, believes that the course of the election campaign is covered by media sufficiently for his commission.

As to the ruling "Edinaya Rossiya" Party, its officials perceive the criticism as an advertising trick of other parties. "Our opponents build their campaigns on criticizing 'Edinaya Rossiya'," State Duma Deputy Roman Antonov, head of the Creative Board of the Presidium of the General Council of "Edinaya Rossiya" for technological support of election campaigns, said on March 3 in the course of the on-line conference: "Elections on March 14: course of the campaign and forecasts."

See earlier reports: "Sochi voters ask Russian President to cancel early elections," "Krasnodar Territorial Prosecutor's Office takes the case of attack on Karastelyov under control," "RWB criticizes media for the way they cover preparation to Sochi Olympics."