Zelensky and Poroshenko debates: where and when to look in the USA

Presidential candidates Vladimir Zelensky and Petro Poroshenko will hold a debate before the second round of elections.

Collage: ForumDaily

NV tells all that is known about it.

Where and when to watch

The exact date of the debate is unknown, because the Central Election Commission is not sure: this is a debate or still campaigning. The fact is that Zelensky and Poroshenko will meet at the NSC Olympic in Kiev, and by law, the debate should take place on a public television channel.

By law, the debate must take place on April 19, the last Friday before the re-election day. If this meeting is considered campaigning, then it can take place on another day (but not on the day of silence and not on election day).

Presidential Adviser Rostislav Pavlenko spoke in favor of holding debates in several rounds: at the NSC Olimpiyskiy (without specifying a date) and April 19 on the basis of the National Public Broadcasting Company.

Dmitry Razumkov, an adviser to the Zelensky headquarters, noted that he was counting on holding an April 19 debate.

Now the exact time of the debate is still unknown. National Public Broadcasting Company 4 April just started negotiations with all parties. If the meeting is defined as a debate, and not as an agitation, then by law, the online broadcast will be between 19 and 22 hours on the air and will last at least 60 minutes.

At the same time, the head of NOTU Zurab Alasania said that the debate should take place on the 19th between 20 and 21 hours “in any case, even regardless of whether there are candidates.”

Zelensky and Poroshenko debates can be viewed on the TV channel UA: Suspillne and listen on UA: Ukrainian radio. Probably, on other TV channels and radio stations. The latter will report about it in their announcements.

If any candidate refuses

If one of the presidential candidates refuses to take part in the televised debates or he does not have such an opportunity, all the time, the air will be provided to another candidate for campaigning.

Will the debate be paid from the budget

The Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission, Yevgeny Radchenko, noted that the debates between candidates, defined by law, should be held at Suspolny, and such debates are paid from the state budget.

However, according to him, if presidential candidates talk about debates at the stadium, meaning a form of campaigning that is regulated by Article 58 of the Presidential Election Law regarding “conducting public debates, discussions, press conferences,” then they must pay for them themselves from their campaign funds.

How Poroshenko and Zelensky agreed to debate

Discussion of the debate between Poroshenko and Zelensky began on election day.

One of the leaders of Poroshenko’s headquarters, Sergei Berezenko, noted that Zelensky participates only in comfortable broadcasts, while “an honest strategy is necessarily a debate.”

Zelensky himself said in response to a question from journalist NV Christina Berdinsky that he is ready for a debate with the current president.

However, already on April 1, political scientist and speaker of Zelensky’s headquarters Dmitry Razumkov said that the showman may not be allowed to appear at the debate due to his concert schedule. At the same time, as the media noted, at that time there were no announced tours and concerts with the participation of Vladimir Zelensky in the poster on the official website of the Kvartal 95 studio. The next day, April 2, Razumkov said that Zelensky was ready for the debate, but he needed to wait for the official announcement of the second round of elections. He also noted that opponents should first apologize to Zelensky’s voters, whom, in his opinion, were insulted by current President Petro Poroshenko, “calling Kolomoisky’s puppets.”

3 April Zelensky опубликовал a video message to the Olympic NSC, in which he set the condition that the debate between him and the president take place there. He also demanded that Poroshenko publicly declare that “the debate will take place not with a puppet of the Kremlin or Kolomoisky, not with a quilted jacket or a clown, not with cattle, but with a presidential candidate,” and that the debate participants take blood tests for alcohol and drugs . Zelensky added that he was giving Poroshenko 24 hours to make a decision.

The management of the Olympic Stadium stated that Zelensky did not discuss with them the initiative to hold a debate at the stadium. “Suspilne” noted that the event at the stadium cannot be considered a debate, since the relevant regulation of the Central Election Commission stipulates that the debate should take place in the studio.

In the Blok Petro Poroshenko said that the debate at the stadium is unlikely. However, in 3: 39 himself the president of Ukraine published a video messagein which he agreed to the debate in the stadium.

Debate rules are written in laws about the President’s vibe, read be caress. Stinks can be made on the basis of Suspіlnogo telebachennya with broadcast on all TV channels for dozens of millions of people.

Ale stadion, so stadion.

I check on you, Volodymyr Oleksandrovich. pic.twitter.com/O0e9AInEO5

- Petro Poroshenko (@poroshenko) April 4, 2019

“The rules of debate are prescribed in the law on presidential elections, please read them. They can take place on the basis of Suspil television with broadcast on all television channels for tens of millions of people. But the stadium is a stadium. I’m waiting for you, Vladimir Alexandrovich,” Poroshenko said.

After Poroshenko’s statement, the head of Zelensky’s headquarters, Ivan Bakanov, stated that Poroshenko had not fulfilled all the conditions.

“We are still waiting, maybe they will give us an additional answer. There were several more questions in the video... it was about recognizing a candidate as a candidate, about providing an answer on a medical examination,” he said. Bakanov added that it was no coincidence that Zelensky proposed holding the debate at the Olympic Stadium.

In response, Poroshenko’s spokesman Oleg Medvedev said that the president would wait for Vladimir Zelensky in the medical unit of the Olympic NSC on 9 in the morning on April 5 for testing.

How Ukrainians relate to the debate

73,5% of Ukrainians believe that candidates who will enter the second round of the presidential election should participate in public debates among themselves: 44% - obligatory and another 30% - desirable.

This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the Ilk Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation together with the Kiev International Institute of Sociology.

Only 18% believe that such debates are not needed.

If televised debates between candidates take place, 42% of citizens will watch them in any case and another 31% - if these debates are interesting and meaningful.

The most important five topics of debate were the following:

— How to achieve peace in Donbass? How to achieve the liberation of the occupied territories of Donbass and their integration into Ukraine? (42%);

— How to overcome corruption in Ukraine? (40%);

— How to achieve economic growth? (40%);

— Ukraine’s development program for the years of his presidency and for the longer term (39%);

— What problems of the country will the presidential candidate solve first of all if he is elected president? (31,5%).

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