Complaint
A viewer complained that the 麻豆社聽 failed to invite the leader of the Wales Green Party to participate in this debate. 聽The ECU considered whether the broadcast met the 麻豆社鈥檚 editorial standards of impartiality with particular reference to the election guidelines in force at the time of broadcast.
Outcome
The Guidelines make clear the starting point for any assessment of what constitutes appropriate coverage is the performance of each party in previous equivalent elections. Figures from the 2017 and 2019 General Elections show the Greens falling well behind the Liberal Democrats, Labour, Conservative and Plaid Cymru in the total popular vote. 聽The ECU considered it was appropriate to take actual votes cast as the basic criterion, as this most closely represented known voter preferences, but it also noted that contemporaneous evidence suggested that support for the Greens in Wales had not increased significantly in comparison with the previous two General Elections.聽 It therefore considered the decision not to include the Greens in this debate to be consistent with the 麻豆社鈥檚 standards of impartiality.聽聽聽聽
Not Upheld