Parliament adopted the new composition of the Audiovisual Council. The Council consists of Orest Dabija, Larisa Turea, Tatiana Crestenco, Ruslan Mihalevschi, Liliana Vițu-Eșanu, Ana Gonța and Eugeniu Rîbca, who were named for a six-year term, IPN reports.

The Audiovisual Council has seven members: three nominated by parliamentary groups, one by the President, one by the Government, and two by civil society organizations. The candidacies are examined and confirmed by Parliament.

The PAS group suggested Orest Dabija and Larisa Turea, the BCS group - Tatiana Crestenco, while the MPs of Șor Party – Anastasia Svetlichnyi. The last wasn’t approved by the responsible commission.

Ruslan Mihalevschi was proposed by President Maia Sandu, while Liliana Vițu-Eșanu by the Government. Civil society suggested five persons: Eugeniu Rybka, Ana Gonța, Valeriu Saharneanu, Larisa Călugăru and Alexandru Verșinin. The last three candidates weren’t approved by the Parliament’s commission on education, culture, research and the media.

The MPs of Șor Party didn’t take part in the vote on the new composition of the Audiovisual Council. They left the assembly hall in protest at CEC’s decision to ask the court to exclude Marina Tauber from the electoral race for the mayoralty of Bălți.

Parliament on November 11  rejected the report on the Audiovisual Council’s work in 2020 by the votes of the PAS MPs. The members of the Council were this way dismissed. The report of the responsible parliamentary commission says the Audiovisual Council didn’t ensure the observance of such principles as impartiality, balance and favoring of the free formation of opinions in programs, primarily during election campaigns, by media service providers.