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2:00 pm, 14 June 2015 // Chisinau

Intense Electioneering on the Election Day, transportation of voters to polling stations (PS), taking ballot papers out of the PS, insufficient ballot papers, sales of alcoholic beverages – these are just a few of the main findings reported until 2:00 pm by over 1400 observers of Promo-LEX Observation Mission.

A summary on the quality of the electoral process and some statistics on the conduct of the General Local Elections (at the national level and in  Chisinau, Balti and Comrat municipalities) are presented below.

Electioneering on the Election Day

• PS 15, Ialoveni d., a minister from the RM Government has been since morning in front of the polling station (PS), talking to voters;
• PS 39, Causeni d., the candidate of a party and his wife are electioneering among voters;
• PS 15, Hancesti d., one party’s candidate for the position of mayor has electioneered for three years near the PS;
• PS 49, Causeni d., one party’s candidate electioneered at the PS;
• PS 39, Causeni d., the wife of a candidate to the position of mayor is an observer on behalf of the party her husband belongs to. This observer is welcoming voters and is chatting with them;
• PS 219, Chisinau, a sticker was placed close to the PS door, encouraging voters to vote for a certain party. It was removed after the verbal request of the Promo-LEX observer;
• PS 5, Drochia t., three candidates to the position of mayor electioneered;
• PS 18, Calarasi d., the brother of a candidate to the position of mayor is electioneering among voters;
• PS 5, Ocnita, the candidate of a party electioneered within the PS. The candidate ignored the repeated requests of EOPS to leave the station and was escorted out of the PS by a number of voters.

Transportation of Voters

Promo-LEX observers reported eight cases of transportation of voters:

• PS 13, Criuleni d., a candidate to the position of councilor transported 12 people to the PS with a Toyota car;
• PS 1, Hancesti t., the candidate to the position of councilor brought four times voters to the PS with his personal car (registration number HN AZ 692), and another candidate transported three times 3 voters each time by another car (registration number HN BD 211);
• PS 30, Criuleni d., one party’s candidate for the position of councilor brought, by three cars, 20 voters to the PS;
• PS 14, Buten v., Hancesti d., two cars (one with the registration number of HN AZ 588 and another with a foreign registration number) transported to the PS 10 voters;
• PS 3, Baraboi v., Donduseni t., a car (with the registration number of DN VD 777) is transporting elderly voters to the PS;
• PS 276, Chisinau mun., one party’s candidate to the position of councilor is transporting voters with his own car (registration number KMX 975), and the candidate from another party – by a car with registration number from Transnistria;
• PS 18, Harjauca, Calarasi d., the brother of a candidate to the position of mayor transported seven voters to the PS by a car (registration number CL AS 838);
• PS 25, Gura Galbenei v., Cimislia d., the candidates to the position of local councilor and to the position of mayor on behalf of an election candidate transported 12 voters by microbus, with the registration number of C GO 279.

Location Electoral Advertising in Close Proximity to PS

• PS 32, Sangerei d., there is an electoral poster of a candidate on a pole, located within the area of 20 m from the exit from the polling station;
• PS 49, Floresti d., a large poster of an election contestant is placed on the window of the shop near the PS.

Ensuring the PS Infrastructure

• Five polling stations (PS 59, 63, 64, Sangerei d.; PS 24, Criuleni d.; PS 21, Floresti d.) do not have safe boxes. Ballot papers are stored in unsecured conditions;
• PS 24, Criuleni d., the ballot papers are stored in the Mayor’s Office and are brought by a member of the Electoral Office of the Polling Station (EOPS) without any security;
• PS 179, Chisinau mun. and PS 26, Cimislia d., issues with Internet connection were noticed;
• PS 74, Chisinau mun., the office is not equipped properly for voters with low vision;
• In five polling stations (PSs 35, 53, 56, 67, Floresti d., and PS 14,  Causeni d.) the voting booths are located too close to each other, thus failing to ensure secret voting;
• PSs 22, 35, 56, 67, Floresti d., the mobile ballot box is not sealed. PSs 12 and 53, Floresti d., the mobile ballot box was sealed only on one side.

Taking the Ballot Paper out of the Polling Station

• PS 24, Falesti d., three ballot papers were found thrown near the voting booth. One of them had the “Voted” stamp applied, and the other two were clean. The ballot papers were put aside, but without annulling them.

Insufficient Ballot Papers

• PS 42, Riscani d., 20 ballot papers are missing compared to May 13 2015. This case was recorded in the presence of observers;
• PS 63, Singerei d., EOPS received by 100 ballot papers for the position of local council less than the number of voters.

Voting on the Basis of Inappropriate Documents

• Three persons voted without the loose leaf of the ID card (PS 25, Rascani d. – 1 case; PS 148, Chisinau mun. – 2 cases);
• PS 19, Briceni d., the EOPS chairman allowed one person to vote without presenting the ID card, explaining that he knows that voter personally;
• PS 45, Cahul d., one person voted with an expired ID card.
• PS 299, Chisinau mun., one person tried to vote only with the ID card’s loose leaf. The voter was not allowed to vote;

Election Fraud cases

• PS 16, Causeni d., a voter received two sets of ballot papers: one for himself and another one for his mentally ill son. The respective voter stamped “Voted” both sets and put them in the ballot box.

Violation of the Right to Be Elected

• PS 40, Sadic v., Cantemir d., the electoral symbol of an election candidate was not inserted next to its name on the ballot papers.

Entry of Several Persons in the Voting Booths

• PS 19, Cotelea v., Briceni d., a person voted with the support of the EOPS member;
• PS 115, Chisinau mun., the observers of two parties helped two voters with sight disabilities to vote.

Failure to apply the “Local Elections 14.06.2015” Stamp in the ID Card

• PS 175, Chisinau mun., a person voted , but the “voted” stamp was not applied in the ID card.

Violation of the Secret Voting Principle

• PS 37, Tabani v., Briceni d., the observer of a party is monitoring the electoral options of the voters, standing close to the voting booths.

Transnistrian region

• The voters from Corjova v., Dubasari d., travel without problems to the PS from Cocieri. Two cars of the Transnistrian militia were spotted. They register the care plates of the persons crossing the so-called “border” to Cocieri v.

Presence of Unauthorized Persons in the PS

• PS 37 in Tabani v., Briceni d., the interim mayor was present in the PS between 7.10 am and 10.00 am.

Limitation of the Right to Vote

Promo-LEX observers found 5 cases when the right to vote was limited:

• PSs 94 and 167 in Chisinau, and PS 3 in Basarabeasca t., several persons were not allowed to vote because allegedly the State Register of Voters (SRV) indicated that they had voted, though they had no “voted” stamp in their ID cards;
• PS 31, Soldanesti d., a person was not allowed to vote with the temporary ID card;
• PS 283, Chisinau mun., a voter made a mistake in the ballot paper and requested a new one. He was not given a new one, and this provoked a conflict which ended with the pulling apart of the ballot paper by the voter.

Violation of Personal Data Security

• PS 63, Cahul d., the integral lists of voters were placed on the PS door on the date of elections.

Lists of Voters

• PS 263, Durlesti t., Chisinau mun., 20 persons were identified to be registered at the same address. A similar case (11 persons) was registered at the PS 91, Chisinau mun.;
• PS 301, Chisinau mun., the street addresses are not indicated in the lists of voters, and the EOPS members insert them manually. From the same motive, several representatives of the election candidates submitted six complaints to CEC.

Procedural Violations by EOPS Members

• PS 37, Briceni d., a voter made a mistake on the ballot paper and requested a new one. Upon the request, the EOPS chairman, having seen the option selected on the first ballot paper, informed the voter that the choice was correct and encouraged him to put the ballot paper into the ballot box;
• PS 276, Chisinau mun., the EOPS deputy chairman engaged in electioneering activities in favour of one of the candidates;
• At the same PS, the EOPS chairman stands next to the voting booth and monitors the electoral options of the voters;
• PS 214, Chisinau mun., at least two members of EOPS don’t check the data in the voters’ ID cards;
• PS 56, Floresti d., the first time voters receive a rose from the members of the commission, stating that this is a tradition;
• PS 29, Salcia v., Soldanesti d., a ballot paper was found in the ballot booth. A PS member put the ballot paper into the ballot box.

Procedural Violations by Mass Media Representatives

• PS 2, Orhei t., a voter signed wrongly in the cell on the additional list, which certifies the receipt of ballot papers. The voting process was suspended/stopped upon the insistence of Euro TV station representatives.

Sales of Alcoholic Beverages

• Within 50 meters from PS 49, Floresti d., there is a small store that sells alcoholic beverages;
• 20 meters away from PS 276, Chisinau mun., alcoholic beverages are sold;
• 20 meters away from PS 40, Ialoveni d.i, alcoholic beverages are sold. The bar was inaugurated on the eve of the election day;
• Within 30 and 50 meters from PS 22, Cuhurestii de Sus v., Floresti d., alcoholic beverages are sold;
• 5 meters from PS 68, Vascauti v., Floresti d., alcoholic beverages are sold.

Voting by Mobile Ballot Box

• PS 22, in Stefan Voda d., one EOPS member together with the driver took the car and drove with mobile ballot box to 59 requesters. The reason that they did not take the other observers or members was that there is no place in the car, and they were supposed to go by foot.

Incident

• PS 23, in Criuleni d., the father and his son, who is candidate for the mayor’s position, were filming from a car all the persons who were coming to the PS. Another candidate, who was filmed, revolted against this fact; he got closer to their car and they started a fight. Police intervention was requested.

Notifications

• PS 49, in Visniovca v., Cantemir d., the observer on behalf of an election contestant filed a notification about the electioneering actions of another contestant, who allegedly proposed MDL 200 to each voter. This case is under police investigation;
• PS 49, in Visniovca v., Cantemir d., an election contestant filed notifications about the actions of representatives of other two election candidates, who were staying in front of the CS office during 7:00 am and 11:00 am;
• PS 37, in Tabani v., Briceni d., the observer of an election contestant filed a notification about the fact that another observer checked how people voted in the voting booth. Although the EOPS members warned him verbally, he continued to check how people voted.

In addition, you can find in the annexed documents, statistics on the electoral process till 2:00 pm, collected from the whole territory of the Republic of Moldova (based on a representative sample, consisting of 600 PS), as well as from the Chisinau, Balti and Comrat municipalities.

At 8:00 pm, Promo-LEX Association will organize the next press briefing to present the observers’ findings regarding the electoral process as of 7:00 pm.

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 are 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 is 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).

The opinions presented in the press release belong to authors and do not necessarily reflect the donors’ view.

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