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Polling place in Corjova blocked / 2009-04-05/08:46

2009-04-05/08:46 /Access to the polling station No. 5 in Corjova village of Dubasari district is blocked. Pavel Postica, observer on behalf of Promo-LEX Association, has told Info-Prim Neo that about 300 civilians are holding a protest in front of the polling place set up at Mihai Eminescu High School. The ballot box was sequestrated and is kept in a militia car.

According to Postica, the protesters are representatives of different local public associations: veterans of the Afghan war, the Women’s Union of Dubasari, the Union of Transnistria’s Defenders, Kazaks. The protesters carry placards and flags of Russia and Transnistria and chant: “No to Illegal Elections!”.

The protest is peaceful, but access to the station is blocked. Moldovan policemen watch the protest from a distance. No person managed to vote until 08.30.

Postica also said that the Transnistrian militia blocked the access roads to Cocieri village, where t here was set up another polling place. “We were informed that the road along the barrage is also blocked. One can cross the river only with the ferry,” Postica said.

The mayor of Corjova village Valeriu Mitul said that the power supply in the village was cut off at 5.00, while at 6.40 the polling station was blocked and the ballot box confiscated. “Transnistrian militiamen and nongovernmental associations came here and blocked the village roads with special equipment, while mobile groups go through the village and urge the people not to go to the polls,” Mitul said. According to him, the members of the electoral office are inside the polling place.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced that all the polling places were opened at 7.00. The voting started as planned, with no incidents, except Corjova village, where the law enforcement bodied of the unconstitutional separatist authorities occupied the polling station No.5 and do not allow the people to vote, says a communiqué issued by the CEC this morning.

International observers from the Embassy of Ukraine, Embassy of the United States, the OSCE, the European Union and representatives of the Ministry of Reintegration are on the spot, the communiqué says.

Jurisdiction over Corjova is disputed between the central authorities in Chisinau and regional authorities in Tiraspol. During the 2007 local elections in Corjova, Transnistrian law enforcement bodies prevented voters from entering the polling station. A number of villagers that wanted to vote and police officers were then mistreated by the Transnistrian militia that destroyed the electoral supplies of the station. Afterward, the Parliament of Moldova extended the term of the local elected authorities until there were created conditions for holding elections. During the 2005 parliamentary elections, Transnistrian authorities blocked attempts to carry out mobile voting for home -bound voters, while in 2003 the polling station for Corjova was opened in the neighboring village Cocieri, which is controlled by the Moldovan constitutional authorities.

Corjova polling station will remain closed / 2009-04-05/10:26

The Central Election Commission (CEC) has decided to leave the polling station in Corjova village closed following a petition by the Dubasari Constituency Council, Info-Prim Neo reports.

The decision came after a group of roughly 300 persons blocked the entrance to the poling place. Power, water and gas supply was halted in the village, and the ballot box was taken away, said CEC chairman Eugeniu Stirbu.

According to CEC’s decision, the 1,350 eligible voters from Corjova will be able to cast ballots at the poling station no.4 in neighboring Cocieri, some 4 kilometers away, or in Ustia village, so as not to overload the former station.

“The present situation renders voting in Corjova impossible, and this decision is to prevent potential incidents and keep the citizens in the region safe from any harm”, said
Stirbu.

Separatist authorities hinder people from voting, Promo-LEX / 2009-04-05/11:56

The separatist Transnistrian authorities prevent the Moldovan citizens from voting by stopping the voters at the customs posts or sequestrating the license numbers of the units of transport, Ion Manole, president of Promo-LEX Association that monitors the elections in Transnistria, has told Info-Prim Neo
Two buses with voters from Bender were stopped at the customs post that is 2 km from Varnita. The voters had been held for about 10 minutes until the Russian peacekeepers intervened, insisting that the voters are allowed to go to the polling place in Varnita. Yet, the mobile ballot box designed for the prisoners held in the Bender penitentiary remained at the customs post.

According to Ion Manole, the Transnistrian authorities hinder the holding of elections in the region and the movement of the voters that want to mark their ballots at the polling places set up in the zone controlled by the constitutional authorities of Moldova.

“Certainly, the people will not go to the polls. At a number of state-owned companies, the people were told to bring the Moldovan passport and card when they come to work on Monday (the persons that vote get the special stamp “Elections 05.04.09” in their identification papers – e.n.). It is obvious that they were banned from going to the polls,” Ion Manole said.

Manole added that the authorities in Grigoriopol confiscated the license numbers of the buses that were to transport voters, while in Camenca it’s like a period of war as there is silence and no one travels along the streets.

“In Camenca, both the Transnistrians and the Moldovans doubled the police posts. I understand the actions of the Transnistrians, not yet of the Moldovans… The Moldovan post is out of place. It’s like a real customs post at Moldova’s border,” Ion Manole said.

Separatists continue impeding elections, Promo-LEX / 2009-04-05/14:49

People living in the Transnistrian region see more and more obstacles in their way to vote in the ongoing Moldovan parliamentary poll, as numerous complaints of intimidation by the Transnistrian authorities keep coming by telephone to the association Promo-LEX, an organization that watches the electoral process in the breakaway region, Info-Prim Neo reports.

“In Grigoriopol, some people heading for the polling station got their car impounded. The local police fenced themselves and refused to explain their reasons. Those people are very upset because they cannot travel to the station. Also, the people who have to vote in Cocieri are forced to travel by foot there. Whereas the younger ones can handle that, the elderly give up in anger and despair”, said Promo-LEX chairman Ion Manole.

“Usually people aren’t registered when they exit the region, but today there have been a lot of cases when people got registered in order to be intimidated and frightened”

Manole also said many people refuse to vote, because if they would, their ID papers would be stamped to confirm that they voted. “At the same time, there is a polling station in Rezina where the stamp isn’t applied, leaving room for fraud”, he added.

Moldovan authorities call for international denunciation of Tiraspol’s actions / 2009-04-05/15:36

The Moldovan Ministry of Integration is condemning the violent actions by the law enforcement bodies of the unconstitutional regime in Tiraspol, which have prevented the citizens in Corjova village, Dubasari district, from reaching the polling place. At the same time, the Moldovan authorities are appealing to the international community for a denunciation of those actions, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communique from the Ministry.

According to the communique, the Ministry of Integration considers that Smirnov’s regime must bear all responsibility for the actions which led to destabilization and tension in the Security Zone, and the potential consequences.

“The Moldovan authorities are deeply saddened that the efforts made with the involvement of the participants in the Transnistrian settlement process have failed to produce favorable conditions for the free movement of the citizens living on the left bank of the Nistru and f ree participation in Moldova’s parliamentary elections”, the communique reads.

At the same time, the Moldovan authorities are expressing hope that the international organizations will take adequate measures to ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in the Transnistrian region.

Promo-LEX: “Who and when told Transnistrian voters where to vote? No one” / 2009-04-05/18:01

The voters from the Transnistrian region who are coming to the 10 polling stations set up for them on the right bank of the Nistru go to wrong places because they don’t know where they are registered. “Who and when told the Transnistrian voters where to vote? No one”, says Ion Manole, the chairman of the association Promo-LEX, an organization that watches the electoral process in the breakaway region.

“It’s not that they were misinformed, they weren’t informed at all… There were people who came from Tiraspol to Hagimus, though they should have gone to Varnita. There were people who came from Slobozia to Varnita, but they were expected in Rascaieti”.

Manole blames the failure on the Moldovan authorities. “If they opened 10 polling places, they should have informed all the people by all possible means”.

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