September 6, 2010. Promo-LEX Association launched the preliminary report on voting day on the national constitutional referendum of 5 September 2010.

The monitoring of the national constitutional referendum, taking place on September 5, is a project implemented by the Association Promo-LEX as part of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections.

The monitoring effort by Promo-LEX includes 42 long-term observers, who monitor the electoral process in all the electoral constituencies in Moldova in the period from 13 August 2010 to 10 September 2010. The long-term observers were assisted by some 300 short-term observers (15% of the total polling stations, distributed across the territory of Moldova, based on a representative sample) who monitored the electoral process on election day. The activity of all the observers will be coordinated by a central team whose structure was conceived prior to the poll.

CONCERNS
1.Many EBPS were insufficiently prepared by the local public administration;
2.In a series of cases it was impossible to solve the problems within the polling stations because the EBPS would not meet the quorum necessary for adopting a decision;
3.The voting process was negatively affected by the fact that the EBPS were improperly arranged;
4.A wider range of electoral frauds were employed (inappropriate issuance of ballots, voters using more than one ballot, introduction of deceased persons in the voters’ rolls);
5.The transparency of EBPS was restricted during the voting process (observers were not allowed to film or take pictures);
6.There was a notable decrease in the authorities concern in ensuring the voter’s right to a secret voting;
7.Citizens from the Transnistrian region were restricted in enjoying their voting rights;
8.There was a lack of access to information on the voting process of the central electoral administration;
9.In a number of cases the voters’ options were susceptible to influence by the campaign advertising displayed in the proximity of the polling stations;
10.There were cases of abusive influence on the voting process by the local public administration and the observers representing participants in the referendum;
11.The free enjoyment of the right to vote was hampered through intimidation and restrictions imposed on the free movement by the separatist forces.

RECOMMENDATIONS
1.Develop and introduce measures to penalize EBPS members who do not comply with their legal obligations;
2.Pay more attention to the appropriate arrangement and equipment of EBPSs;
3.Identify a clear mechanism for preventing and penalizing frauds in the voting process;
4.Ensure necessary conditions for the enjoyment by citizens from the Transnistrian region of their right to vote, by creating EBPSs on the right bank and providing transportation to the polling stations;
5.Improve the legislation on outdoor campaign advertising;
6.Identify a clear mechanism for preventing and penalizing public administration for abusively influencing the voters’ choice.

The report is available here.

Note: For further information contact the Legal Department Promo-LEX, Pavel Postica, tel. 211 622.