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May 20, 2018

Time: 9:30 a.m.

By 09.15 of the day of the new local elections of May 20, 2018, the Promo-LEX Observation Mission found the following violations: ballot boxes have not been sealed as provided by the legal procedures; unjustified presence of unauthorized persons in the polling station, or within 50 meters of the polling station; taking photos of ballots, etc.

Restricted access or obstruction of a free observation process in the polling station (PS) – 1 case.
PS 1/46 Chisinau. President of the PS prohibits the observer from moving through the PS. When the Short Term Observer (STO) approached the voters’ list to see why a voter was indignant, the PS president banned it, referring to the protection of personal data.

Presence of advertising materials, posters, election panels within the polling station (100 meters of the PS) – 4 cases
PS 1/285 Chisinau. There is an advertising poster of A4 format within 100 meters of the EBPS.
PS 2/238 Balti. Presence of A4 posters.
PS 1/138 Chisinau. There is a billboard with posters of two candidates.
PS 1/265 Chisinau. There are election posters of 3 candidates within 100 meters of EBPS.

Ballot boxes have not been sealed according to the legal procedures – 9 cases of ballot boxes with broken / damaged, or missing seals.
PS 1/289 Chisinau. There are 2 stationary ballot boxes in the PS, which have been sealed with only 2 seals. The STO points out that there are more seals available in the PS. The PS president said there aren’t any.
PS 1/245 Chisinau. Stationary ballot boxes (2) have been sealed with only 2 seals. EBPS President said he does not have a larger number of seals.
PS 1/213 Chisinau. There are 2 stationary ballot boxes in the PS that have been sealed with only 3 seals each.
PS 1/257 Chisinau. A stationary ballot box in the PS has only 3 seals. A seal has been deteriorated, although there are spare seals, the PS president did not apply any.
PS 1/180 Chisinau. Ballot boxes in the polling station have only 2 seals each (2 ballot boxes). The EBPS received only 5 seals for the ballot boxes.
PS 1/160 Chisinau. Ballot boxes in the polling station (2 ballot boxes) have only 2 seals. The reason given is an insufficient number of seals.
PS 1/219 Chisinau. Two ballot boxes have been sealed with 3 seals.
PS 1/229 Chisinau. Two stationary ballot boxes in the PS have been sealed with only 2 seals. The President of the PS said there are not enough seals to apply 4 on each ballot box.
PS 1/236 Chisinau. There are 3 ballot boxes in the PS, 2 stationary ones with only two seals and the mobile ballot box has only three seals.

Unjustified presence of unauthorized persons in the PS or within 50 meters of the PS – 3 cases
PS 16/43 Jora de Mijloc. 2 persons, representing one of the competitors, are in the PS from its opening. They claimed to be observers, but they did not have observer’s identity cards and said they would receive them later. They installed video cameras and took pictures.
PS 1/128 Chisinau. A citizen spent about 30 minutes in the polling station, possibly he is the husband of a EBPS member, no one told him to leave the PS, nor made any comments.
PS 1/104 Chisinau. The polling station is located within the I. Creanga University, on Cornului Street. There is a stall with windows behind the voting booth, where the security guard is located (one person), who was asked to leave the stall, but he refused.

Unjustified cessation/ adjournment of voting in the polling station – 1 case.
PS 16/041 Jora de Mijloc. A voter notified the president of the PS of the presence of cameras within the PS. At the initiative of the president, the PS stopped the activity for 10-15 minutes, the president asked the members of the PS if they were for or against the cameras. EBPS members voted against, except for the president. Finally, the cameras were turned off, but they are still in the PS.

Organized transportation of voters (buses, minibuses, or other transport units that would normally not be in the vicinity of the PS) – 1 case.
PS 16/042 Jora de Mijloc. Several people, representing a contender, are staying within 30 m of the polling station. They are on an Opel car of blue color, registration number OR BK 056, they are bringing voters to the polling station and checking them before entering the station. They brought people to the PS at least twice.

Deficiencies in the functioning of SIAS Elections (State Automated Information System) (suspension of operation, situations when SIAS Elections indicates that the voters voted, while they claim they did not) – 6 cases.
PS 1/10 Chisinau. The Internet connection disappeared at 7:00 a.m. The technical support service was contacted.
PS 2/42 Balti. The Internet connection was interrupted for 5 minutes, meanwhile, voters were checked on the paper lists.
PS 1/299 Chisinau. The SIAS system could not be accessed for a period of 15 minutes. For this period, the voting was suspended. The problem was solved by requiring a technician to check the Internet connection.
PS 1/128 Chisinau. Only one operator is working because the cable internet does not work, and only one operator has an internet modem.
PS 1/246 Chisinau. There was no Internet connection for a short period of time. There was no voter at that time. The connection was soon re-established.
PS 1/120 Chisinau. One of the computers does not work, the operator went to the CEC to take another computer. Meanwhile, a line has formed, since more voters came in at the same time.

Deficiencies in voters’ lists (address discrepancies, deceased voters, signatures made instead of other people) – 2 cases.
PS 1/85 Chisinau. A voter noted that an unknown person was registered at his address on the voters’ list. This case had been repeated in previous elections. The lady wrote a notification in this respect both last time and this time again.
PS 1/80 Chisinau. A voter noted that an unknown person is registered at the address, where he is domiciled. He did not write any notification in this respect.

Taking photos of ballots – 1 case.
PS 1/027. A voter took a photo of the ballot, an observer saw this and notified the president of the PS, but it was too late as the voter left. 

Others – 2 cases.
PS 1/115, Chisinau. At 7:20 a.m., an observer representing a competitor, was present at the polling station without an identity card. EBPS members allowed him to enter on the basis of his accreditation.
PS 1/245 Chisinau. A voter registered in the system, after which he refused to take the ballot and left. His ballot remained intact, it was not canceled.

The Promo-LEX observation mission of the new local elections of May 20, 2018 monitors the elections through 8 long-term observers (LTOs) in the seven constituencies established. On the day of the elections, Promo-LEX delegated a short-term observer to each polling station in the constituency. Observers involved in the monitoring process signed the Promo-LEX Independent National Observatory’s Code of Conduct, committing themselves to act promptly, in good faith and in a non-partisan manner. The activity of all the observers is coordinated by the central team of the Association.

The activity of Promo-LEX OM is supported financially by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The opinions expressed in the Promo-LEX public reports belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders.

For more details, please contact:
Axenia Chirilov, Communications Officer of Promo-LEX Association;
GSM 060168314, e-mail: [email protected]