Thirty candidates appear in presidential roundtables

9 Aug 2009

Thirty candidates appear in presidential roundtables

KABUL - A total of 30 out of 41 presidential candidates participated in pre-election television roundtables conducted by the Media Commission between 29 July and 6 August.

The Commission told a press conference today that 28 candidates also participated in similar radio roundtables.

The roundtables were organized to give the candidates a public platform to explain their election manifestos, the Commission said.

The programme – designed by the UN’s elections support programme UNDP/ELECT – was organized “in such a way to enable five presidential candidates to participate in each roundtable and present their manifestos and plans on a specific subject for 40 minutes,” said a statement from the Commission.

The recordings, which started on 29 July, are being broadcast by Ariana, Tolo, Ayna, Shamshad televisions and Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) and by 10 radio stations both in Kabul and outside.

However, the Commission, which is a subsidiary of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan, said “a number of candidates” sent their running mates or agents to the roundtables.

“All the presidential candidates were supposed to join these programmes and take advantage of them,” said the statement. “But unfortunately in spite of making frequent contacts by the commission, some of them turned down the commission’s invitation to partake in these roundtables.”

Those presidential candidates not showing up for the Media Commission-organized roundtables are incumbent Hamid Karzai, Ashraf Ghani, Muenuddin Ulfati, Hasan Ali Sultani, Sayed Jalal Kareem and Rahim Jan Shirzad Fi Sabiullah, among others.

Another candidate, Abdul Majeed Samim, who was supposed to participate in the roundtables, withdrew from his candidacy just a day before its recording.

“The discussion programmes… attracted a large number of audiences,” said the Media Commission. “Moreover, there are reports that broadcasting these programmes on RTA have been welcomed by Afghan refugees in Europe and (the) United States.”

At a press conference on 2 August, the Commission warned the state media, in particular RTA, for its biased reportage, favouring incumbent President and candidate Hamid Karzai.

Once again, the Commission’s media monitoring (between 22 June and 6 August) found that state-owned print media favoured Karzai with 69 per cent coverage, followed by just 14 per cent coverage for another candidate, Dr Abdullah Abdullah. The share of coverage for other candidates is far less with just 5 per cent for Ashraf Ghani and 4 per cent for Mirwais Yasini.

“Mr Hamid Karzai is still the one who dominates the state print media by covering 35,832 square centimetre spaces out of 52,164 square centimetre,” said the monitoring report.

By Tilak Pokharel, UNAMA

Website: Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan

Website: Media Commission

Website: UNDP/ELECT