According to Capriles, state media favors Maduro.
In the complaint, Capriles' campaign stated that more than seven hours of airtime were allocated to the government candidate and less than six minutes to the opposition candidate on the first official day of the campaign.
Leandra Felipe *
Correspondent Agência Brasil/EBC
Bogotá - The campaign team for Henrique Capriles, candidate for President of Venezuela, yesterday (3) filed a complaint with the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela alleging favoritism in the airtime allocated to the campaign coverage of the government candidate and interim president, Nicolás Maduro, for the April 14 elections. In the complaint, Capriles' campaign said that more than seven hours of programming were allocated to the government candidate and less than six minutes to the opposition candidate on Tuesday (2), the first official day of the campaign.
According to Carlos Vecchio, a representative of Capriles' campaign who filed the complaint with the CNE (National Electoral Council), there was an imbalance in the campaign coverage in state media. "On April 2nd, state media coverage dedicated seven hours and seven minutes to Nicolás Maduro's agenda and five minutes and thirty-seven seconds to Enrique Capriles' event," he said.
The complaint is directed at state-owned media outlets represented by the Bolivarian System of Communication and Information (Sibci). Sibci is comprised of 14 media companies, including TV stations, radio stations, and news agencies.
Vecchio said that the companies that make up Sibci have joined forces to transmit Maduro's agenda. "There is an informational imbalance and the use of public resources for electoral purposes. Is that why Sibci was created, to favor an official political option?" Vecchio questioned.
State and private media outlets in the country reported the filing of the complaint by the opposition. Government media also said that Capriles did not respond to an invitation from the country's Minister of Communication and Information, Ernesto Villegas, for an interview on the Venezuelan state television station (VTV). According to VTV, Capriles also did not allow journalists from Sibci to participate in a press conference he held on Tuesday.
* With information from Venezuelan Television (VTV)