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MT 11 May 2017

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maltatoday, THURSDAY, 11 MAY 2017 News 11 Greens lambast BA 'servant of PL and PN' over conference schedule THE Broadcasting Author- ity has confirmed that it is totally excluding Alternat- tiva Demokratika and smaller parties from TV debates dur- ing the electoral campaign while the PN and PL will have four debates between them and a press conference each. The Chairperson of Alter- nattiva Demokratika, Prof. Arnold Cassola, said: "The Broadcasting Authority, with half of the members nomi- nated by PN and the other half by PL, is showing that it is there only to accommodate the two bigger parties. This, despite the fact they already own a TV and radio station each, that transmit political propaganda 24 hours a day." Cassola said that the BA had "lost all sense of dignity, and will therefore not allow the Maltese people to listen to and compare the different views of the different parties." The BA schedule will pro- vide two conferences of 60 minutes each with five jour- nalists asking questions to party representatives. There will be four other po- litical debates between two Labour and PN representa- tives, and one debate between the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader. The PL and the PN will each be given a total of 120 min- utes of political spots and 20 minutes only for each other party contesting in the elec- tion. Independent candidates will get five minutes. A final message of three minutes from party leaders will also be granted. The BA said that press con- ferences with Labour Party representatives will have journalists from TVM, Net TV, The Malta Independent, il-Mument, and Church ra- dio RTK, while the PN rep- resentatives will be faced by TVM, One TV, MaltaToday, the Times, and Union Print. Far-right contesting nationwide THE far-right Moviment Patriotti Maltin will field candidates in all districts, with up to three candi- dates in one single district, party leader Henry Battisttino said. It will be the first showing for the anti-immigration MPM, which will field 13 candidates, each with double constituencies. So far, the far-right party has not figured in MaltaToday polls, never registering far beyond the 1% mark of voting intentions. Immigration is also among the least of national con- cerns. Battisttino, whose 'movement' started out collecting signatures for a petition "against integration" and then led protests against integra- tion policies for foreigners, told this newspaper he was very annoyed at the media blackout against his party. "I cannot understand why," he said, while answering that he was not worried about his party's lacklustre show in the polls. "We know we have support, just wait until we announce our can- didates' list," Battistino said, who fashions his party as a defender of an underclass that is at the fringe of the two parties' demographics. At one point he said Marlene Farrugia, the former Labour MP, had renounced on her independence by taking her PD on the PN ballot. "We don't have much funds, but enough of a budget to be noisy," he said. Henry Battisttino www.maltatoday.com.mt FROM MONDAY TO FRIDAY

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