According to the first findings of Promo-LEX observers submitted by 15.00 hours, the following irregularities were found:

Opening of Polling Stations
Only 2 members of the PSEB were present at the opening of polling station [PS] no. 32 in Mihaileni (Briceni), and at the PS no. 155 in Chisinau, the protocol of the PS preparation for opening was filled in and introduced in the ballot box at 08.15 hours.

Polling Station Arrangements
In many polling stations there were numerous shortcomings in the equipment of the PS: non-functional line and cell phones (PS no.14 in Calarasi), no heating (PS no. 40 in Salcuta, Causeni), no electricity in PS no. 48 in Nicolaevca, Floresti (starting at 10.00 hours) and PS no. 7 in Holercani, PS no. 8 in Marcauti, PS no. 9 in Molovata, and PS no. 11 in Oxentea (Dubasari) between 10.45 and 12.40 hours.

Failure to connect to the State Voters’ Register was registered in 34 PSs, which caused lines and resulted in some voters getting angry and refusing to vote: PSs nos. 4 and 32 in Colibasi, no. 54 in Pelinei (both in Cahul), PS no. 7 in Balatino (Glodeni), PS no. 10 in Cotiujenii Mari, PS no. 2 (both in Soldanesti), PS no. 7 in Straseni, PSs nos. 76, 86, 227, 103, 291, 217, 216, 205, 167, 177, 158, 185, 171, 164, 162, 274, 172, 272, and 300 (all in Chisinau), PS no. 60 in Taura Noua, PS no. 23 in Nicolaevca (both in Singerei), PS no. 12 in Nisporeni, PS no. 48 in Nicolaevca, Floresti, PS nos. 1 and 11 in Drochia, PS no. 19 in Hasnasenii Mari, Drochia, DECs in Basarabeasca, Edinet, Falesti, PS no. 63 in Zarnesti, PS no. 6 in Camenca (Glodeni), PS no. 63 in Secarenii Noi, PS no. 62 in Secareni, PS no. 64 in Cornesti, PS no. 44 in Mereseni (all in Hincesti), PS no. 92 in Chisinau, PS no. 1 in Donduseni, PS no. 254 in Codru (m. Chisinau), PS nos. 264 and 94 in Durlesti, Chisinau, PS no. 217, PS nos. 219, 227, 231, 208, 212 and 234 in Chisinau. A line of approximately 40 people was formed at PS no. 40 in Rezina, where residents from Ribnita vote.

Violations were also registered at PS no. 103 in Chisinau, where PSEB members could not seal the mobile ballot box (leaving it unsealed), PS no. 86 in Chisinau, where the seal on the main ballot box broke, PS no. 111 in Chisinau, where a single ballot box was sealed, PS no. 1 in Cahul, where the ballot box has a dented corner, and one of the seals is missing, and PSs nos. 81 and 3 in Orhei, where pieces of paper were glued on the corners of the mobile ballot box, and were stamped.

The arrangement of voting booths in PS no. 25 in Halahora de Sus (Briceni) is inappropriate, as the voter’s option is easily noticeable.

A single main ballot box was prepared for PS no. 62 n Zirnesti (Cahul), along with one mobile ballot box. By 14.00 hours, the main ballot box was already full.

Voter Lists
At PS no. 4 in Drochia, 99 persons could not be found in the main voter list and were included in the supplementary voter list. Thirty persons could not be found in the main voter lists at PS no. 3 in Leova, and they were invited to register on the supplementary list, but they refused. The space for registering 150 voters at PS no. 59 in Sanatauca (Floresti) was filled up and the electoral bureau officials brought additional papers from village Bursuc.

At PS no. 72 in Chisinau), a voter’s personal data were written down with mistakes.

Voting Ballots
PS no. 18 in Bisericani (Glodeni) received ballots only for 110 persons, although there were 118 people included in the main voter list. The electoral bureau of PS no. 85 in Chisinau failed to apply the “withdrawn” stamp on ballots next to the line of the candidate that withdrew from the poll.

Failure to Apply the ”Elections 30.11.2014” Stamp on the ID Bulletin
One person voted without having their ID insert stamped at PS no. 72 in Chisinau; three persons voted this way at PS no.72 in Buiucani, Chisinau, and other 2 persons voted without having their IDs stamped at PS no. 72 (Chisinau).

Voting at Home
The electoral body of PS no. 85 (Chisinau) admitted a request for a vote at home that came in on Election Day, in absence of a medical certificate, and the request was registered with a previous date.

Violation of the Secret of Vote                                                                                           
A violation of the vote secrecy was registered at PS no. 264 in Durlesti (Chisinau). An elderly disabled person was asked by the chair of the PSEB about their voting option, and he voiced his option publicly, the PSEB chair allowed the voter’s daughter to apply the stamp next to the respective candidate in his place.

Incidents
A voter fund that someone had already voted in his place at PS no. 23 in Dusmani, Glodeni – the police was called to investigate.

Taking Photos of the Ballot and Their Cancellation
One voter took a picture of the ballot before putting it into the bullet box at PS no. 12 in Albina (Cimislia), and was warned against that by PSEB members. The police detained a voter who took a photo of his ballot at PS no. 14 in Balti. Also, the PSEB cancelled the ballot of one voter after the later took a photo of his voting option at PS. No. 3 in Criuleni; later, the respective person voted repeatedly. A similar case happened at PS no. 222 in Chisinau, sector Riscani, where three persons took pictures of their votes and ballots, and one of them had their vote cancelled and was not allowed to vote again.

Voting with Inadequate Documents
Numerous persons voted using their foreign passports: one person in each of the following stations: PS no. 62 in Stefanesti (Floresti), PS no. 13 in Bulboaca (Briceni), PS no. 72 in Buiucani, Chisinau); and four persons voted in PS no. 2 in Marculesti (Floresti). A person voted at PS no. 72 in Buiucani, Chisinau, without having their ID card insert checked.

Transportation of Voters
Promo-LEX observers registered four cases of voter transportation:

An Opel model car, registration plate RZAG 655, brought 4 voters, twice, to PS no. 7 in Rezina. The driver of the car is the husband of the raion chairperson. A person driving a Nisan car number CIY 931 has been bringing people to vote to PS no.45 in Troitcoie (Cimislia).

Three buses and a van brought in 50-60 people to vote to PS no. 41 in Varnita (Anenii Noi).

A Scania bus number CGE 240 brought approximately 26 persons with voter right certificates from Cimislia and Hincesti. A Scania bus, and other three cars (a yellow Mercedes Vito, a yellow Ford Transit, and a black BMW 525) brought in at least 33 persons to PS no. 3 in Straseni.

Two buses (registration plates P499A and P335BC) brought in at least 40 persons from Ribnita to PS no. 42 in Rezina. M.S. brought voters to PS no. 29 in Peciste, Rezina, at least three times with his car (registration plate RZAG 685).

Electoral Campaigning
At PS no. 26 in Hirtop, the secretary of the mayor’s office, V.A., campaigned in favor of one of the candidates. At PS no. 15 in Dereneu (Calarasi), N.F. urged one of the voters to cast their vote in favor of a certain candidate. An observer n behalf of a candidate in PS no. 3 in Straseni campaigned in favor of the respective candidate. Other five cases of campaigning were registered at the following polling stations: PS no. 21 in Ialoveni, PS no. 54 in Peresecina, Orhei, PS no. 44 in Tanatarii Noi, Causeni, PS 284 in Bubuieci, m. Chisinau, and PS no. 7 in Causeni.

Transnistrian Region
The militsia post in village Corjova registered and verified the data of all the cars passing through to Cocieri and to the polling station.

Contestations / Complaints
Promo-LEX observers reported the first complaints/contestations submitted by candidates and/or their representatives at PS no. 51 in Onesti (Edinet), and PS no. 238 in Chisinau.

Intimidation of Observers
There were two cases of intimidation of voters at PS no. 21 in Ialoveni and PS no. 48 in Nicolaevca.

Enclosed please find a document entitled: ”Statistical Data_15.00h”, which contains quantitative data on the voting process.

The Election Monitoring Effort is part of the activities conducted by the civil society under the aegis of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections.

The Monitoring Effort for the Parliamentary Election on 30 November 2014 has received technical assistance from the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Council of Europe, and the Stefan Batory Foundation from the funds provided by the Solidarity Fund as part of the “Support for Democracy” Programme of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For additional information, please contact:
Galina Sanduta, Press Officer of the Promo-LEX Election Monitoring Effort
GSM: 069 95 82 89, email: [email protected].

The Promo-LEX Association presented today its Fourth Monitoring Report for the Parliamentary Elections on 30 November. “The civil society was right to insist on the need to change the rules of campaign funding. Concealing candidates’ revenues and expenses is the most serious deficiency of the current campaign for the Parliamentary Elections on 230 November 2014,” said Pavel Postica, the team leader of the Promo-LEX Election Monitoring Effort.

During the period covered by the report, the monitoring found that 1,177 citizens contributed a total of 57,674,934 Moldovan lei to electoral funds, which amounts to 53.34% of the funding ceiling established by the CEC.

• Twenty one candidates reported their election revenues and expenses to the CEC;
• Eight candidates received warnings from the CEC for procedural violations of submitting financial reports;
• 96.62% of electoral expenses went into advertising;
• Only three out of 26 candidates reported expenses for staff salaries, maintenance of permanent offices, and communication services;
• None of the candidates reported expenses for remuneration, per diem and travel allowances, and consultancy;
• For the first time in the history of the Republic of Moldova, the Chisinau Court of Appeals admitted and upheld a CEC decision to cancel the registration of an electoral candidate, namely Political Party “Patria” [Homeland], on grounds of campaign funding in violation of electoral legislation provisions.

During the monitoring period, the CEC analyzed and presented its conclusions on 14 contestations submitted by candidates in the poll, and two applications submitted by the police. The contestations referred to violations on the rules of using administrative resources, failure to relief from public office, unauthorized posting of campaign materials, use of election materials without proper markings.

In this context, Promo-LEX observers have found at least 23 instances that were assessed as use of administrative resources: 2 cases of use of public premises in favor of a candidate, 16 cases when service transportation was used for campaign purposes, and 5 cases of use of public office.

As the campaign approaches its end, observers note the involvement of church in the campaign. One candidate used religious icons as campaigning materials; another candidate used the image of Orthodox Church in their party leaflets. In the village Stația Rediul-Mare, the local priest was found collecting signatures in favor of a candidate.

“The findings of the Monitoring Effort regarding the dynamic campaigning conducted by the candidates, the efforts of the central and local governments to ensure people’s access to vote, especially for voters abroad and those with impaired vision, the high interest of national and international observers for the poll, etc. – all these positive aspects are unfortunately overshadowed by the many negative situations documented by Promo-LEX observers,” said Corneliu Cirimpei, senior analyst of the Promo-LEX Election Monitoring Effort.

The electronic version of the Report here.

The Election Monitoring Effort is part of the activities conducted by the civil society under the aegis of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections.

The Monitoring Effort for the Parliamentary Election on 30 November 2014 has received technical assistance from the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Council of Europe, and the Stefan Batory Foundation from the funds provided by the Solidarity Fund as part of the “Support for Democracy” Programme of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For additional information, please contact: Galina Sanduta, Press Officer of the Promo-LEX Election Monitoring Effort, GSM: 069 95 82 89, E-mail: [email protected].

On 6 November, Promo-LEX launched its Third Report of the Election Monitoring Effort for the Parliamentary Elections on 30 November 2014. The document contains electoral findings collected and submitted by observes between 16 October and 5 November 2014, and aspects related to election finances. The analysis of campaign funding was conducted based on the financial reports of political parties, submitted to the CEC starting on 10 October, and compared with the field findings of election observers.

Central and local public authorities made considerable efforts to reduce the number of voters who donșt have identity bulletins. In the monitoring period, the CEC had a very intense schedule, and registered five additional candidates and rejected the application for registration of an independent candidate. The CEC also analyzed and decided on 14 contestations submitted by candidates, and accredited 1482 national and international election observers, of which 1321 observers are part of the Promo-LEX Monitoring Effort.

“Promo-LEX observers welcome the initiative shown by election candidates, that have had active campaign, with diverse campaigning activities. Thus, candidates used traditional campaigning tools such as meetings with voters, electoral concerts, and dissemination of campaign materials, street advertisement, and campaigning in the media. At the same time, we witnessed national and local campaign launches, sports activities, installation of tents with campaigning materials,” reads the report.

At the same time, Promo-LEX observers noted with concern the following trends with regard to campaign funding:

• 743 citizens contributed to campaign funds, to a total amount of 29,195,000 lei;
• None of the candidates published weekly report of their election revenues in national publications;
• Only one candidate (PCRM) transferred to the election account funds from the party account;
• Three of 15 candidates (PL, PFP, PDA) submitted campaign funding reports with zero revenues and expenses;
• 85.2% of expenses went to campaign advertisement and posters, and approximately 13% were spent on transportation;
• Only three of 15 candidates (PP ”Patria”, PSRM and MPA) included transportation expenses in their financial reports;
• None of the candidates reported their real expenditures for renting premises, payment of hired labor, compensations and utilities for their campaign offices, although Promo-LEX observers in the field found at least 226 offices.
• None of the candidates reached the funding ceiling of 55 million lei established by the CEC. A single candidate reached 18.47% of the set funding ceiling.

Also, the Promo-LEX Monitoring Effort registered the following deficiencies in the electoral process:

• Certain deficiencies in the functioning and validity of data in the State Voter Register and the level of professionalism of those in the field in charge of managing the Register;
• Violation of legal provisions on the Broadcasting Coordination Council reporting to the CEC, and insufficient regulation on behalf of the BCC of the use of free air time with the national and public broadcasters;
• Failure to observe regulations about campaign posters, and failure of at least 419 APL to manage the situation regarding electoral posters, namely to establish and set up outdoor sites for campaign posters;
• Granting access to premises for electoral meetings in absence of respective decisions/authorizations by local public authorities;
• Negative or derogatory campaigning activities;
• Electoral gifts and use of administrative resources;
• At least eight election-related incidents.

The electronic version of the Report here.

As regards the media coverage of the election campaign, the Promo-LEX Monitoring Effort notes that only four candidates make up the main subjects of election-related publications in the local and regional media outlets.

For additional information please contact: Galina Sanduța, Press Officer, Promo-LEX Election Monitoring Effort, GSM: 069 95 82 89,  Email: [email protected]

On 16 October Promo-LEX Association launched the second Report on Monitoring Parliamentary Elections of 30 November 2014. The report covers electoral period from 24 September to 15 October and shows findings reported by observers.

Monitoring effort of Promo-LEX has found that the start of electoral campaign took place without major violations, having a quasi-unbiased record of electoral administration. During this period, Central Electoral Commission elaborated a number of regulations and instructions meant to improve the normative framework and has accredited national and international observers. Beginning with 10 October 2014, CEC registered 16 electoral contestants, and 7 persons picked up petitions for collecting signatures, required for electoral registration.

CEC established the amount of 55 mln. Lei as a ceiling of financial resources that may be transferred into the electoral fund. It is noteworthy to mention that this ceiling is considerably greater, more than two times, comparing to previous elections. For early elections from 28 November 2010 the ceiling amounted to 21 664 445 lei, whereas for new local elections from 5 June 2011 – almost 22 142 345 lei. Instead, for electoral contestants – independent candidates during 2014 campaign the ceiling was reduced with over 7%.

Though the opening of “Electoral funds” was not registered at CEC, Promo-LEX observers noticed numerous activities aiming at promoting the image of potential and actual electoral contestants (DPM, LDPM, PCRM, LP, PSRM, Christian–Democratic Popular Party and the citizen Renato Usatîi). Thus, these incurred expenses for organizing electorally biased concerts, placing of electoral posters, polygraphic advertising, improving local infrastructure, construction of buildings and monuments.

Central Electoral Commission set up 37 electoral districts. However, there were not set up two electoral districts of Bender municipality and territorial-administrative unit of II level transnistrian region. Along these lines, we noticed that both central public administration and electoral administration had not initiated previous discussions regarding the improvement of participation of citizens from eastern districts of the Republic of Moldova in electoral process.

Likewise, during the reporting period first electoral incidents were registered, cases of administrative resource use, giving electoral gifts, and the involvement of regional and local media in support or against some electoral actors. Thus, in Rezina and Sângerei districts first cases of intimidation and pressure on voters were registered. Monitoring effort has also found the cases of giving gifts and other material goods by some political parties. According to Promo-LEX observers, at least 4 political parties (LP, LDPM, PSRM, DPM) have given gifts with electoral meaning in 9 districts of the country. At the same time, Promo-LEX observers have reported multiple electorally biased articles in local and regional media concerning DPM, LDPM, LP, PCRM, LRP and the citizen Renato Usatîi.

The Monitoring Effort of Parliamentary Elections of 30 November 2014 is conducted by Promo-LEX Association within the framework of the Monitoring Democratic Processes Program. The Monitoring Effort fits into activities undertaken by civil society under the aegis of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections.

The Monitoring Effort of Parliamentary Elections of 30 November 2014 benefits of technical assistance from the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Council of Europe and Stefan Batory Foundation from the resource offered by the Solidarity Fund through “Support for Democracy” Program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland.

The opinions expressed in this report belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the donors.

For additional information, please contact:
Galina Sanduța, Press Officer Monitoring Effort Promo-LEX
Telephone: 069 95 82 89, E-mail: [email protected]

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Promo-LEX Association organized the public debate on topic “The elections of 28 November 2010 through the prism of improving the Moldovan electoral processes”.

Based on the findings of the Final Monitoring Report of the early parliamentary elections of 28 November 2010, this public debate focused on issues such as poor preparation of voter lists, lack of financial transparency from candidates in terms of reflecting expenditure and the use of administrative resources for electoral purposes.

At the opening event, Ion Manole of Promo-LEX said that “although the Central Election Commission was one of the most open and transparent government institutions in recent years and was successfully conducted within a fairly narrow period between two Parliamentary elections and a referendum, there is much more to do. This is demonstrated by the numerous findings, conclusions and recommendations contained in the reports of observers monitoring the elections from Promo-LEX”. In this context, Ion Manole stressed the necessity and importance of continuing the partnership between civil society and electoral bodies.

According to Iurie Ciocan, President of the Central Election Commission, one of the main remaining issues was that of voter rolls. During the debate the need for intervention in the procedure for compilation and verification of voter lists was emphasized. “We have a clear position on the proposals and despite gaps in the exchange of opinion we have established some regulatory pathways,” said Iurie Ciocan.

Irregularities in reporting of expenditures by electoral competitors have also been detected. Pavel Postica, lawyer at Promo-LEX and Deputy Chief of the monitoring effort stated that it may be the case that the Election Commission needs to review the rules, in order to require competitors to show very clear how money is managed. This is also relevant in the context of the upcoming local elections, where the control over financial transparency will lie on District Election Commissions, which will mean even less opportunity to verify the financial transparency of electoral competitors.”

In the discussions were drawn the main recommendations made by Promo-LEX, including the need to establish a single mechanism for checking the validity of its registration by voters in electoral lists, simplification of the procedures for checking the logical validity of the vote counting and to establish a clear mechanism to verify data for the detection of inconsistencies in the protocols.

Participants attended the event concluded that such debates are welcomed, and not only around local or parliamentary elections, and attempts to improve the electoral process must be continuous, contributing thus to the ultimate goal to have free and fair elections.

Nicolae Panfil, Secretary of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections stated: “It is important that after the release of monitoring reports to have such discussions on the conclusions and recommendations so that we make them be heard, and thus improve the effective organization of elections. This event has started what we may consider an activity in view of the upcoming elections and both the Coalition and Promo-LEX will already be mobilized in this regard ”

The event was attended by representatives of the electoral authorities, central and local public authorities, political parties and of the civil society.

For more details, contact: Ion Manole, President, Promo-LEX Association
Tel: (22) 450024, GSM: 069070800, e-mail: [email protected]