Most of the residents of Transnistria who take part in the elections held on the Moldovan-administered territory most of the times do not vote consciously because they are not informed, Ion Manole, head of “Promo-Lex” Association, stated in the talk show “Place for dialog” on the public station Radio Moldova, IPN reports.

“The electoral competitors are unable to campaign on the left side of the Nistru. The people do not have access to information sources in Chisinau and cannot know the candidates. Tiraspol should accept the election runners from Chisinau too and should not allow only those from Moscow to campaign,” stated Ion Manole.

He considers that by blocking access to information, the Transnistrian administration is trying to maintain the separatist regime. “The Moldovan authorities are tolerant. I regret that the people from there still believe in promises. They once believed that Transnistria would be transformed into a Soviet Switzerland. The situation worsens in the region because Moscow allocates less money after the annexation of Crimea and owing to the decline in oil prices,” said the head of “Promo-Lex”.

The Moldovan authorities intend to establish more polling places in Transnistria for the October 30 presidential elections, but only in the Moldovan-administered communities.

Source: ipn.md

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) favored Marian Lupu when registered him on September 3, a day off, as candidate of the Democratic Party (PD) for the position of president. This is the conclusion of the Promo-LEX association, that remarked that some candidates, and namely those from the PD, the Liberal Party (PL), the European People’s Party of Moldova (PPEM) and the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) used administrative resources for signatures’ collection.

“On the day of September, 3, 2016, the CEC could activate in the view of task achievement, including to receive documents for initiative groups’ registration, but not register candidates for the post of president, because in this way, indirectly, it favored the PD candidate, Marian Lupu”, announce the experts of the Promo-LEX.

At the same time, the Promo-LEX observers noted cases that can be qualified as use of administrative resources in the process of collection of signatures in the favor of four designated candidates: Marian Lupu (PDM), Mihai Ghimpu (PL), Iurie Leancă (PPEM) and Igor Dodon (PSRM).

“In this sense, it deserves to be highlighted the fact that the initiative group of the candidate Marian Lupu collected signatures in 311 localities led by mayors of the PD, which constitutes about 75,12% from the total of those 414 localities in which were collected signatures. In at least two cases, the collection of signatures for the support of the candidate Marian Lupu unfolded in public authorities and institutions (town halls, schools, kindergartens)”, is shown in the report realized by the analysts.

Also, according to the Promo-LEX, was stated the administrative resources use by the Minister of Environment Valeriu Munteanu, who participated during working hours at the receiving and lodging of lists of subscription for the candidate Mihai Ghimpu.

The observers also informed about other two cases of use of the position in the process of lodging of the lists of subscription during working hours: for the support of the PPEM candidate Iurie Leancă by the Cantemir district Vice President and for the support of the PSRM candidate, Igor Dodon, by two social assistants.

At sector expenditure, three initiative groups that presented at the CEC the lists of subscription declared in the totalizing financial reports expenses less than those estimated by the Promo-LEX or submitted declarations that had no expenditure.

Also, although the initiative group that supports the PD candidate declared expenses bigger than those estimated by the Election Observation Mission, it omitted to reflect in the totalizing report expenses estimated to minimum 10599,60 lei for the remuneration of the initiative group members and volunteers.

The press officer of the CEC, as well as the PD and PPEM representatives were not found for reaction, and those of the PL and PSRM rejected the accusations in their address. On the other side, the Minister of Environment, Valeriu Munteanu, declared that he received and lodged the lists of subscription for Mihai Ghimpu during lunch break.

The report of the Promo-LEX Mission of Observation of the Elections of the President of the Republic of Moldova was realized by 42 observers, in the period August 24 – September 13.

We remind that, at the beginning of the week, the Dignity and Truth Platform Party (PPDA) leaders sued the Central Electoral Commission. The request was submitted at the Chişinău Court of Appeal. The PPDA leadership asks for the cancellation of the institution’s decision that confirms that registration of the PD President, Marian Lupu, in the electoral race, the reason being that the decision was allegedly adopted with deviations.

Source: jurnal.md

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in favor of Moldovan citizens of German origin Boris Mozer, who was arrested by the Transnistrian militia and held in inhuman conditions. Thus, the ECHR found Russia guilty of violating the rights to freedom and safety. The ECHR’s decision was presented by the Association “Promo-LEX” in a news conference at IPN. Members of the Association said the ECHR’s decision is one of reference and major importance.

Director of the Human Rights Program, lawyer Alexandru Postica said the ECHR decided that the continuous refusal to offer the plaintiff medical assistance and the detention in inhuman conditions in a number of penitentiaries in the Transnistrian region represented violation of the right not to be subject to torture. The plaintiff’s rights to private life and religion were also violated because he was not allowed to meet with representatives of the denomination of which he forms part.

“The Court ascertained that the courts in the Transnistrian region do not have long enough experience and cannot be considered courts that can allow applying arbitrary arrest. Thus, the whole system in the region is questioned. This is a very important outcome,” said Alexandru Postica. The Court ascertained that unlike the constitutional legislation of the Republic of Moldova, which was appraised by international institutions, the so-called Transnistrian legislation remains in the shadow. No international body assessed it to see if it meets the international standards.

According to the lawyer, the ECHR found Russia guilty of violating the rights of the Moldovan citizen. Though the plaintiff was arrested and convicted by the unrecognized bodies of the Transnistrian region, these work owing to the support provided by Russia. Consequently, all the committed violations were imputed to Russia, which was obliged to pay €25,000 in respect of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages and €4,000 costs to the plaintiff.

Moldova was obliged to take prompt actions to guarantee a legal framework compatible with the European Convention for the Transnistrian region. “Promo-LEX” executive director Ion Manole said the conclusions stated in the ECHR decision are sufficient for Moldova to continue to take measures to ensure the human rights in Transnistria are observed. “By becoming involved in each case apart, we can manage to solve the Transnistrian issue in general. Only by monitoring the situation in the Transnistrian region, can we identify both the problems and solutions to them,” he stated.

The plaintiff complained to the Court that he was arrested by the Transnistrian militia on November 24, 2008. During about a year and a half, he was held in inhuman conditions in jails in Tiraspol and Hlinaia, being refused medical care. After a summary conviction, he was set free on July 1, 2010.

Twenty-one political parties, which is almost half of the parties registered in Moldova, do not have the procedure for paying membership dues regulated in their statutes or other internal documents. This is the preliminary conclusion of “Promo-LEX” Association, which, supported financially by the British Embassy in Chisinau, initiated a study of the practices and methods used by political parties to finance their activity and carry out statutory tasks. The final study will be presented at end-March.

Cornelia Calin, financial analyst of “Promo-LEX”, in a news conference at IPN, said the preliminary analysis showed that the statutes of 21 parties do not regulate the size of dues, in breach of the amendments made to the Law on Political Parties in April 2015. In 18 cases, the membership dues are set and regulated by internal documents, but this is against the law. The statutes of another three parties do not contain provisions that would regulate the payment of dues or their size.

According to Cornelia Calin, the statutes of only 22 parties stipulate the size of dues and the dues payment procedure. In seven cases, the dues vary between 1 and 5 lei a month. Four parties set the dues at 6 to 20 lei, while another four parties – at 21 to 100 lei. In another six cases, the dues vary between 0.2% and 2.5% of the monthly income, while one party set the dues at 5% of the minimum official salary.

Programs director at “Promo-LEX” Pavel Postica said the lack of relevant regulations in the statutes of parties became a violation of the Law on Political Parties on January 1, 2016. Attention to dues is paid because these represent the parties’ main source of self-financing.

According to Pavel Postica, the Ministry of Justice should recommend the parties to regulate the procedure for paying dues and their size by the statutes. By March 31, the parties must report the incomes and costs for 2015 to the Central Election Commission.

The experts of “Promo-LEX” said they didn’t expect to see that half of the registered parties do not have such regulations. A surprise for them was that there are large, institutionalized parties among these. The Association’s preliminary conclusions contain no party names.

Source: Ipn.md