On Monday, the National Broadcasting Council published the text of a letter addressed to the president of the State Election Commission of fresh Year's Eve Marciniak. "I ask the President, as a typical of the State Electoral Commission, to examine the facts and make a clear assessment of whether the debate was organised in violation of the law indicated by me in this letter."
This is what the charge refers to in the conversation with Onet, justice Wojciech Hermelinski. — Under Article 120 of the TVP Electoral Code, before the elections, it must organise a debate of all presidential candidates. And specified a debate has already been planned on public television," he emphasises.
"Candidates want to talk? Freeway’
– And these are 2 distinct things – this debate of all candidates, planned on TVP for May based on the electoral code and requirements contained in the National Broadcasting Council Regulation and what happened on Friday. If TVP has allocated any resources to the organisation of this Friday's discussion, then I truly don't see a problem in it or a breach of rules – says justice Hermelinski.
The TVP typical Joanna Dunikowska-Paź informed during the event that they were organised by the election committee of Trzask and that public tv will hold a debate on all candidates in May. The point is that in this case, the Friday debate should be legally marked as material of the election committee of Rafał Trzaskowski. That's the kind of marking that was missing.
Moreover, supporting the run of 1 candidate is straight contrary to Article 4 of Chapter XIII of the Principles of Journalism Ethics in TVP, which speaks of "a ban on participation in the work of election committees and participation in the implementation of election programmes of committees".
– Mr Trzaskowski and Mr Nawrocki agreed to meet, then another candidates, TVs – including public ones – joined and broadcast it. In my view, TVP did not, in this case and moment, fulfil the work imposed on it by Article 120 of the Electoral Code. Do the candidates want to talk? The freeway can do so on TVP and another media, as long as these media agree to it," concludes Hermelinski.
