PRINT

On May 23, 2018, Promo-LEX Association published Report no. 4 of the Observation Mission (OM) on the new local elections of May 20, 2018. The report provides the findings made on the day of elections. Monitoring of the election process on the day of elections was possible due to the involvement of 375 short-term observers (STOs), delegated to each of the polling station (PS), as well as mobile observing teams, established to react to special situations, which were coordinated by 8 long-term observers (LTOs) and a national coordinator.

Over the day of May 20, 2018, Promo-Lex OM was informed of 236 cases, qualified as incidents. Of these, the largest part falls for deficiencies noted in the basic voters’ lists – at least 96 cases (40.68%). Among the deficiencies registered, most of them refer to the presence of foreign persons, registered at the addresses of voters, or former owners, registered at the same addresses (37 cases), non-inclusion of voters in the voters’ lists, although based on the data from the ID cards, they belong to the respective PS (33 cases). Other important violations are photographing of ballots (36 cases) and unjustified presence of unauthorized persons in the PS or within 50 meters of the PS (19 cases).

In general, the results of the parallel vote counting, carried out by Promo-LEX OM, show results that are close to those of the preliminary data of the Central Election Commission (CEC). Certain differences are due to the existence of minutes with errors, detected with the help of verification formulas.

According to the findings of the Promo-LEX OM, of 375 minutes, 20 were filled in with errors in one or more verification formulas. The errors were detected with the help of verification formulas, established by the CEC to confirm the authenticity of the recordings in the minutes. Distribution of erroneous minutes per constituency: Chisinau (15), Balti (3), Jora de Mijloc, Orhei district and Volovita, Soroca district (1 each).

According to the preliminary results of the Promo-Lex OM, the elections of May 20, 2018 are valid in all the 7 constituencies. Having analyzed the voter turnout, we established that the highest value was recorded in Jora de Mijloc – 43.48%, according to the Promo-LEX data and 52.99%, according to the preliminary data of the CEC. The lowest voter turnout was registered in Balti – 34.95% (final findings of Promo-LEX) and 34.62% (preliminary finding of the CEC).

In 6 out of 7 constituencies, mayors have been elected in the first ballot. Only in Chisinau, the second round of voting will be held. According to the preliminary information, all mayors elected were designated by political parties, as follows: PDM – 4; PN – 1 and PPS – 1.

***
The information provided by Promo-LEX observers was processed by the Central Team, which presented four press releases and organized three press conferences during the election day. The following day, on May 21, 2018, the Mission presented the results of parallel vote counting.

The Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the new elections of May 20, 2018 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]