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17 September 2015, Chisinau – Promo-LEX Association launched on 17 September the Final Monitoring Report of the General Local Elections of 14 (28) June 2015. The document was discussed during a round table, with the participation of representatives of the relevant public institutions (Central Electoral Commission, Parliament Republic of Moldova, CCA, GPI, NAC etc.), civil society, mass media, and partners.

The report presents the performance of the key electoral stakeholders during the period between 3 April and 31 July 2015. Thus Promo-LEX Observation Mission has concluded that this year’s local elections were marked by a moderate participation of the population, a tight competition and satisfactory organization of the election by the relevant bodies.

See the Report here.

This year’s election started with the pre-election period marked by uncertainty regarding the organization of the election, and ECC had to amend the regulatory framework within less than a year until the elections, which is against the recommendations of the Venice Commission. With a few exceptions, the electoral bodies were set up within the time-frame set by the CEC electoral calendar and had, mostly, a correct and impartial behaviour towards the election candidates.

A major problem was the access to check the lists of voters, which has affected the voters’ trust in the electoral process, and the deficient interpretation of the electoral legislation on the preparation of the lists of voters based on residency has allowed the artificial migration of voters and has caused a few incidents involving violence and the ravaging of a polling station.

Promo-LEX mission also found that the current election campaign was latent in the beginning and became more dynamic in the last month, when the election candidates diversified the electioneering methods. Also, observers have worriedly identified isolated cases of violence and intimidation, use of provocative discourses leading to hatred against the counter-candidates, as well as the presents offered for electoral purposes.

Promo-LEX Observation Mission noticed a relative increase of the transparency level in reporting on the financial means used by the election candidates, but also the continuation of certain major shortcomings in this area. Also, in comparison with the Parliamentary Elections of 30 November 2014, Promo-LEX noticed less involvement of the local and regional mass-media in reflecting the election campaign for local elections.

On the basis of the findings of the final report, Promo-LEX Observation Mission formulated 42 recommendations for public authorities, election candidates and other relevant stakeholders aimed at improving the legal framework and the election procedures. The following are among the key recommendations:

• Develop, adopt and complement the Electoral Code with a new provision that would set a single date for the general local elections;
• Add norms to the Law on Personal Data Protection that would ensure transparency of and access to the lists of voters;
• Add norms to the Electoral Code that would ensure the exercise of the right to vote for voters who don’t have a domicile or residency;
• Amend the legal norms that regulate the votes recounting so that the expenses for the organization of the recounting to be covered by CEC if the initial results were found to be incorrect or by the party that has requested the recounting, if the initial results are confirmed;
• Establish a single financial threshold for all election candidates (independent candidates and candidates appointed by the political parties) at electoral constituency level, as well as establish the obligation of drafting financial reports for each electoral constituency;
• Ensure a mechanism to avoid the possibility of disguising the identity of the de facto donors of the election candidates (by wiring the financial resources to the party’s account and thereafter, to the electoral accounts through single transfers from the party’s account);
• Apply the existing gradual sanctions for the violation of the legislation on election campaigns financing, without selective approaches for some election candidates, political parties and/or independent candidates;
• Hold accountable the persons guilty of having used administrative resources, offered electoral presents, used forbidden symbols during the election campaign, instigated to violence and intimidated citizens.

The findings and recommendations of the Observation Mission for the 2015 General Local Elections were possible to be made thanks to the involvement of 1954 national observers. The recommendations result from the findings arrived to in more than 5786 reports obtained from Promo-LEX observers in the field, including 3719 comprehensive reports on visits, 1814 reports on events / incidents, 253 district reports and 1836 reports developed on the election day. Promo-LEX also conducted the Quick Count and the Parallel Vote Tabulation in three constituencies: Chisinau, Balti and Comrat.

The Final Monitoring Report of the 2015 General Local Elections is developed on the basis of four interim reports submitted during the election campaign and of 2 totalization reports on the election day.

We remind you that Promo-LEX Observation Mission declares itself to be neutral and equidistant towards the election candidates, it is not an investigation body and does not assume the express obligation to support the observers’ findings by evidence.

The General Local Elections of 14 (28) June 2015 were monitored by Promo-LEX Association under its Monitoring Democratic Processes Program. The Observation Mission is part of the activities, carried out by the civil society under the aegis of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections. The Observation Mission of the General Local Elections of 14 (28) June 2015 was supported financially U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Council of Europe and benefits of technical assistance provided by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI).

For additional information, please contact: Simion Ciochină, Communication Officer of the 2015 General Local Elections Observation Mission, Tel: 0 (22) 49 26 84, GSM: (+373) 69 11 96 94, E-mail: [email protected].