Promo-LEX Election Observation Mission for the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 (15) November 2020 | Polling Stations Opening

15 November 2020
Time: 9:00 a.m.

Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 (15) November 2020 informs that as of 9:00 a.m. the Mission had received 105 incident reports from observers, this press release containing information on 62 incidents processed by the central team of Promo-LEX Mission at that time.

At the first round of the presidential election of 1 November 2020, Promo-LEX OM had received by 9.00 a.m. 64 incident reports from observers, the press release having included 35 incident reports the central team had processed.

Monitoring by the Promo-LEX OM of the second round of presidential election

On the election day for the second round of the presidential election of 1 (15) November 2020, as in the first round, Promo-LEX will delegate one short-term observer (STO) in each of the 608 polling stations (PSs) selected by Promo-LEX OM from a sample established by a sociological company.

Moreover, a static observer will be assigned to each of the 42 polling stations where voters from the transnistrian region will cast their vote.

The electoral process in the polling stations, in their immediate vicinity and the access routes to the polling stations where the voters from the transnistrian region will vote, will be monitored also by 80 mobile teams of observers.

Also, special consideration will be given to polling stations abroad, where it is planned to delegate static observers in about 61 polling stations.

Compared to the first round, Promo-LEX seconded, for the second round, four teams of observers trained in monitoring public assemblies.

Incidents flagged up upon opening of polling stations:

Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 (15) November 2020 finds,

Restricting the observers’ access or preventing the free observation process at the polling station – 1 case.

PS 16/1 Edinet, Edinet. The Promo-LEX observer was restricted free observation of the polling station. He was not allowed to move around inside the polling station and was also prohibited from filming or taking pictures although he sought the Chairperson’s permission for that three times at around 7:05 a.m. when the flow of voters was not abundant.

Deficient operation of Elections SAIS (suspended functionalities; situations where Elections SAIS showed that the voter had voted, although the latter claimed he had not) – 13 cases.

PS 1/105 Chisinau, Buiucani. One operator was not able to connect. The PEB Chairperson announced CEC about it, but the answer was that the network was overloaded and couldn’t be solved at that time.
PS 1/198, Chisinau, Rascani. The Elections SAIS operators were not able to enter the system for about 20-40 minutes. When the PEB Chairperson made a call to CEC, the issue was solved. The voting process wasn’t put on hold. The voters were recorded on a sheet of paper and were later entered into the Elections SAIS.
PS 1/7 Chisinau, Botanica. It took Elections SAIS operators 30 minutes to enter the system. The PEB Chairperson announced CEC about it and all technical issues were addressed.
PS 12/28, Criuleni, Magdacesti. The operators were not able to enter Elections SAIS between 06:00 – 7:27 in the morning. The voting process was not halted. The voters were recorded on a sheet of paper. The PEB Chairperson was trying to have the issue solved.
PS 4/03, Anenii Noi, Anenii Noi. Both operators struggled with entering the Elections SAIS, the first one – between 7:15 and 7:42 a.m., and the second one – between 7:30 and 7:40 a.m. The voting process was not halted during those 30 minutes. The voters were recorded on a sheet of paper. The problem was solved.
PS 18/026, Floresti, Cunicea. One voter was not found in Elections SAIS, but she was on the lists of voters. She cast her vote without having been registered in Elections SAIS. According to the Promo-LEX STO – the woman appeared in the Elections SAIS in that PS in the first round, however this time she had been assigned to another PS in Cunicea.
PS 01/107, Chisinau, Buiucani. The Elections SAIS did not work between 7:00 and 7:18 a.m. (operator 1)/7:30 a.m. (operator 2). The operators checked the internet connection and restarted the program a number of times. Both operators started their work later than 7.00 a.m. because of this.
PS 25/40 Orhei, Furceni. The internet was gone at 7:05 a.m., as was connection with Elections SAIS. The internet provider was called. The voting process was not interrupted. The voters were recorded on paper. It was only at 8:30 a.m. that the issue was solved and that the operators uploaded the data into Elections SAIS.
PS 10/7, Causeni. There was no internet between 06:59 and 7:15 a.m.
PS 10/2, Causeni. Internet was gone at 07:05 am, as was connection to Elections SAIS. One Moldtelecom engineer looked into it. One of the computers was connected to internet in 30 minutes, while the second one was not even after an hour of attempts.
PS 32/31 Stefan Voda, Talmaza. The PS was opened as late as 7:40 a.m. because of the impossibility to enter Elections SAIS. The voters were being registered on paper by hand between 07:40 and 07:50 a.m. until the PS got one computer working (however it disconnected every now and then). Connecting the second computer was still impossible even after 8:00 a.m.
PS 10/36 Causeni, Plop Stiubei. There was no internet between 7:35 and 7:40 a.m. Internet connection was back on after the program was restarted.
PS 32/10 Stefan Voda, Cioburciu. Impossible to connect to Elections SAIS. The support of an engineer was sought in this regard.

Presence of advertising materials, electoral billboards and posters in the vicinity of the polling station (within the area of 100 m from the PS) – 4 cases.

PS 32/001 Stefan Voda, Stefan Voda. There’s was a board with electoral posters in support of a contender in the radius of 100 m from the PS.
PS 29/9 Soroca, Soroca Municipality. A billboard of a candidate was across the PS and some small leaflets of a candidate were noticed at the PS entrance.
PS 31/001, Soldanesti, Soldanesti. There was a board with electoral posters of a candidate some 50 meters away from the PS. Once informed about it, PEB members removed the electoral posters away.
PS 32/030 Stefan Voda, Talmaza. A banner in favour of a candidate was hung on a store some 50 meters away from the PS. When the observers entered the store, the owner removed the banner off the wall of the store, but did not remove from the door the election posters of that same candidate. He claimed that the people who hanged the banner had said that it wasn’t a violation.

Unjustified presence of unauthorised persons inside or within 100 m from the polling station – 3 cases

PS 07/011 Cahul, Cahul. People who introduced themselves as representatives of contenders, entitled to the right to vote, showed up at the PS, but without carrying the required credentials. The PEB Chairperson said he hadn’t received the credentials from DEC. Subsequently, the PEB members attempted to settle the problem by going to DEC.
PS 18/002, Floresti, Floresti. A group made of three people have been seen less than 100 m away from the PS between 7:30 and 8:37 a.m. One of the three, who had already voted, handed the observer of a candidate a bag and told him he was going to use it when he goes around with the mobile ballot box. This group can be seen around and moving in the vicinity of the polling station.
PS 18/023, Floresti, Cuhurestii de Sus. There was an unauthorised person inside the PS at 7:30 a.m., wearing IGSU uniform (emergency response). The PEB Chairperson explained that the man was there to discharge policing duties to protect the ballot papers.

Interrupted video recording of electoral procedures for polling station opening or procedures of ballot papers counting – 8 cases.

PS 1/192, Chisinau, Rascani. It was found at 6:50 a.m. that the video camera didn’t work. The PEB Chairperson announced CEC, but no measures were taken about it.
PS 1/100 Chisinau, Buiucani. The video camera doesn’t record. The PEB Chairperson informed that the camera didn’t work.
PS 37/11, transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Varnita. The Promo-LEX observer reported that the camera hadn’t been turned on upon the sealing of boxes and distribution of ballot papers. It was placed behind the operators’ backs.
PS 20/002 Hincesti, Hincesti. The camera was not turned off at 7:00 a.m. once the PS opened. At 8:25 a.m. the camera was still on and recording the voting process.
PS 36/40, ATUG, Cazaclia. The video camera hadn’t been turned on when the PS preparations were underway because the person in charge of it was late. When the PEB Chairperson became aware of it, he turned the camera on but that was almost at the end of the preparations for opening the PS.
PS 11/2 Cimislia. The PEB Chairperson turned the camera off at 7:50 a.m.
PS 27/25 Riscani, Hiliuti. The camera was not turned off after the PS was opened for voters to enter. The recording was stopped when the people attending the process raised this issue.
PS 27/015 Riscani, Braniste. The camera hadn’t been turned off after the PS was opened. It was still recording at 8:10 a.m.

Electioneering or black PR within the radius of 100 m and/or near the polling station to influence the voters – 2 cases.

PS 1/87 Chisinau, Buiucani. As soon as he came out of the voting booth, a voter showed his ballot paper and announced out loud that he had voted for a particular candidate. The PEB Chairperson warned the voter about electioneering being prohibited.
PS 06/002 Briceni, Briceni. There is an unauthorised person right next to the PS entrance handing out masks to voters and talking to them. That person was a supporter of one of the candidates.

Ballot boxes were not sealed according to the legal procedures/tearing/damage or absence of seals on ballot boxes — 19 cases.

PS 1/19 Chisinau, Botanica. The ballot box was sealed by 3 seals. At 6:47 a.m., a PEB member ripped off accidentally one seal on a stationary ballot box.
PS 1/100 Chisinau, Buiucani. The stationary ballot boxes were sealed by only 2 seals because there were reportedly few seals in the polling station.
PS 1/199 Chisinau, Rascani. The stationary ballot boxes were sealed by only 2 seals each. The PEB Chairperson explained that the seals brought to the PS were insufficient.
PS 1/221 Chisinau, Rascani. A stationary ballot box (backup) was sealed with one seal, 2 stationary ballot boxes were sealed with 3 seals each. The PEB Chairperson informed that the received an insufficient number of seals (10).
PS 37/38 transnistrian region, Rezina. The stationary ballot boxes were sealed only with 3 seals. According to PEB Chairperson this is the number of seals distributed by CEC.
PS 37/22 transnistrian region, Criuleni. The stationary ballot boxes were sealed only with 3 seals. According to PEB Chairperson this is the number of seals distributed by CEC.
PS 1/3 Chisinau, Botanica. The stationary ballot box was sealed with only 3 seals. PEB chairperson mentioned that according to the regulation, it was allowed to apply from two to four seals.
PS 33/008 Taraclia, Tvardita. One of the three stationary ballot boxes was not sealed. The PEB members believe it will not be used during the day and they decided not to seal it. The ballot box is placed in a visible place of the PS.
PS 36/004 Gagauzia ATU, Comrat. PEB members found that the seals were not enough to seal all the ballot boxes. As a result, PEB members decided not to use this ballot box during the voting process. The ballot box was stored in an auxiliary room of the PS. The observer mentioned that PEB members prepared a protocol as regards this situation.
PS 1/154, Chisinau, Ciocana. The stationary ballot boxes were sealed by only 3 seals. The PEB Chairperson mentioned that they received few seals.
PS 1/9 Chisinau, Botanica. The stationary ballot boxes were sealed by only 3 seals. The Chairperson mentioned that he left a seal for backup.
PS 1/411, Romania, Galati. The stationary ballot box was sealed by only 2 seals.
PS 13/25, Donduseni, Tirnova. The PS received on 10 seals while it has 2 stationary and 3 mobile ballot boxes. As a result, the stationary ballot boxes were sealed with only 2 seals each, invoking the lack of enough seals for all the ballot boxes.
PS 35/8, Ungheni. Both stationary ballot boxes were not sealed according to the rules: one was sealed with only 3 seals, and the second – with 2 seals. The reason invoked was the insufficient number of seals.
PS 10/4, Causeni. The stationary ballot box was sealed with only 2 seals. The PEB Chairperson communicated that it is fine and it wouldn’t have a problem with applying 2 seals instead of 4.
PS 27/1 Riscani. Only one of those 3 ballot boxes inside the PS is sealed with 4 seals, while the other two – with 2 seals each. The PEB Chairperson explained that they received that number of seals from CEC.
PS 27/2 Riscani. The stationary ballot boxes were sealed only with 3 seals and the reason invoked was the fact that they received only 10 seals from CEC.
PS 06/002 Briceni, Briceni. The ballot boxes were sealed only with 3 seals. PEB Chairperson said that they didn’t receive the necessary number of seals. Later on, the necessary seals were brought from DEC and the ballot boxes were sealed according to the rules.
PS 18/022, Floresti, Cuhurestii de Sus. The mobile ballot box was not sealed. PEB members said they would seal it when the ballot box will leave the PS.

Deficiencies in the lists of voters (gaps between addresses; deceased voters; signatures instead of other people) – 2 cases.

PS 1/218, Chisinau, Rascani. A voter noted that his signature was put down in the main list of voters, which confirmed he voted in the first round of elections. The voter claims he didn’t vote in the first round of elections. The stamp ‘voted’ was not applied in the loose leaf.
PS 1/228, Chisinau, Rascani. At 8:10 a.m., a voter noted that the main lists of voters contained the name of a deceased person who had the same residence as the voter.

Taking pictures of the ballot papers, other violations of the secret ballot (submission of ID card on the basis of which the voter had already voted, inappropriate laying out of booths because of which one could see who other voters cast their vote for) – 4 cases.

PS 1/100 Chisinau, Buiucani. At 7:55 a.m. one voter took a picture of the ballot paper. All the members of PEB noted that, but no one reacted immediately.
PS 1/261, Chisinau, Sangera. At 8:10 a.m., two voters who were showing to each other pictures with their ballot papers were noted outside the polling station.
PS 1/100 Chisinau, Buiucani. At 8:31 a.m. one voter took a picture of the ballot paper. A member of PEB asked the voter to delete the picture but the voter ignored the request.
PS 1/11 Chisinau, Botanica. At 8:14 a.m. one voter took a picture of the ballot paper. The photo was deleted at the request of PEB Chairperson.

Failure to observe COVID-19 protection and prevention measures – 3 cases.

PS 1/292, Chisinau, Stauceni. At 7:04 a.m., more voters than the number of voting booths were inside the PS. The PEB Chairperson did nothing about it.
PS 18/023, Floresti, Cuhurestii de Sus. PEB members do not comply with COVID-19 protection rules – do not wear masks/wear them incorrectly.
PS 32/33 Stefan Voda, Volintiri. The anti-pandemic rules are not observed. Thus, for a number of 5 voting booths, 7 voters are allowed to enter the PS.
Electricity outages – 1 case.
PS 13/25, Donduseni, Tirnova. At 7:10 a.m. the electricity was out in the PS. After approximately 20 minutes, PEB Chairperson managed to restart it.

Unjustified group voting (two or more voters) – 1 case.

PS 32/3 Stefan Voda. Two voters were in the voting booth (husband and wife). PEB Chairperson solved the issue.

Others – 1 case.

PS 32/10 Stefan Voda, Cioburciu. A ballot paper with the mark ‘voted’ on it was found in the voting booth. This one was moved to the side, and the PEB Chairperson was standing by the booth in order to ensure the security of the respective ballot paper. After discussing with the people in the PS, PEB members identified the voter who left the ballot paper in the voting booth. He was called by a PEB member, but this one did not admit initially that he forgot his ballot paper in the voting booth. Nonetheless, after he discussed with the PEB Chairperson, the voter decided to assume the case and throw the ballot paper in the ballot box.

The press release is developed as part of the Observation Mission for the Elections of the President of the Republic of Moldova on 1 (15) November 2020, conducted by Promo-LEX Association with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) via the ‘Democracy, Transparency and Accountability’ Program, the Good Governance Department of Soros Foundation-Moldova under ‘Monitoring the Presidential Elections of 1 November 2020’ Project, and the Council of Europe under ‘Support for civic observation of 2020 Presidential Election in polling stations abroad’. ‘Hate speech’ component is supported by Justice and Human Rights Department of Soros Foundation-Moldova under ‘Consolidation of a platform for the development of activism and education in the area of human rights in Moldova – stage IV’ Project.

The opinions set out in the public reports and press releases of Promo-LEX OM are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of funders or partners. The content of this report can be subject to editing.

If there are any discrepancies between the text in Romanian and its translation, the provisions formulated in Romanian shall prevail.

For more details, please contact:

Inga Stegarescu, Communication Officer of Promo-LEX Observation Mission for the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 (15) November 2020: GSM 069269684, e-mail: [email protected]

REPORT no. 7 | Observation Mission for the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of November 1 (15), 2020

Promo-LEX Election Observation Mission found a number of worrying incidents

Use of administrative resources, involving religious cults in the election campaign of a candidate, use of undeclared financial and in-kind resources, as well as violation of the restrictions imposed by the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission. These are the main findings of Promo-LEX Observation Mission, reflected in its Report No 7 on the observation of the presidential election in the Republic of Moldova.

Besides the findings related to the campaign activities carried out by the two candidates that reached the second round of election, Promo-LEX OM underlines repeatedly the lack of explicit and exhaustive legal provisions in the Electoral Code to regulate the conduct of the second round of elections.

Electoral incidents impacting the campaign

Promo-LEX Observation Mission draws the attention on a case that could be interpreted as use of undeclared financial and in-kind resources by candidate Igor Dodon. It is about alleged printing of larger number of the campaign newspapers than stated in the printing data, as well as at another printing house than stated in the publication.

It is also suspicious that, though both the newspaper and the invoice for printing services are dated 9 November 2020, the publication contains at least one picture that seems to be taken at the press conference of 10 November 2020 of district presidents and deputy presidents in support of candidate Igor Dodon. In addition, at least two copies of newspapers printed before the first round of elections were found in the Universul printing house. However, according to the information reported to CEC, candidate Igor Dodon did not print newspapers or other promotional products at Universul printing house during the electoral campaign for the elections of 1 November 2020.

We also warn about the violation of the restrictions established by the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission, as two types of events involving a big number of participants were carried out in support of Igor Dodon. One of them was a people’s march in Balti Municipality in which more than 200 people participated, and the other one was about at least 20 car marches across the country, involving more than 450 cars. Another people’s march is scheduled to take place in Chisinau on 13 November 2020 in support of the same candidate.

The observers also reported two cases of involving religious cults in the election campaign of candidate Igor Dodon.

The contenders continue to use administrative resources

Promo-LEX observers reported at least 142 electoral activities carried out by the two runner-up candidates for the second round of the presidential election. Of them, Igor Dodon (IC) carried out 51% of activities (72), while Maia Sandu (PAS) carried out 49% (70). PSRM continues its active participation in the campaign of independent candidate Igor Dodon.

Also, at least 12 cases that can be regarded as use of administrative resources were found. Out of them, 11 cases featured Igor Dodon (IC), and one case – Maia Sandu (PAS).

At least MDL 500,853 were not reported by the two election contenders

According to the reports submitted to CEC, the revenues reported by election contenders for 4-6 November totalled MDL 956,816, including donations in commodities, objects, works and services. Of these, MDL 556,367 (58%) were reported by Maia Sandu (PAS), and Igor Dodon (IC) reported MDL 400,450 (42%).

The OM estimated that at least MDL 500,853 were not reported by the two election contenders for the first week of election campaign for the second round of the presidential election. Of that amount, Igor Dodon (IC) did not report MDL 394,422 (79%), while MDL 106,431 (21%) were not reported by Maia Sandu (PAS).

Also note that the election contenders continue not to report expenses associated with electioneerers and not to submit declarations on their volunteer work.

An increase in the number of people wanting to vote at the place of stay, that is at home

The Promo-LEX Observation Mission sounds the alarm bells about the increase in the number of people willing to cast their vote at home, compared to the first round. In this context, we also draw the attention to at least four cases when requests to vote at the place of stay were collected by unauthorised people: three cases involved people reported as electioneerers of candidate Igor Dodon; and one case involved employees of the post office.

Electoral bodies’ failure to comply with protection requirements

Although slight improvements were noticed in terms of the extent to which DECs comply with the epidemiological requirements, the fact that not all DECs observe the pandemic-related requirements is worrying: 5 (14%) councils do not have a register for monitoring the temperature of electoral officials; at least 8 (22%) DECs do not measure the visitors’ temperature; 2 DECs (6%) do not display any information about the health protection rules during pandemic.

Unfortunately, precinct electoral bureaus (PEBs) were also found not to comply with the protection requirements in the context of pandemic.

The second round affected by hate speech and incitement to discrimination

Hate speech and incitement to discrimination influenced the election campaign of the second round. Thus, of a total of 51 reported cases, the independent candidate Igor Dodon used this type of speech in 7 cases.

At the same time, there were reported at least 34 cases of using hate messages and/or incitement to violence against the PAS candidate Maia Sandu (26 cases) and the independent candidate Igor Dodon (8 cases) by politicians, journalists, opinion leaders or candidates’ supporters.

In other 10 cases, this type of speech targeted members of political parties and/or supporters of candidates, as well as public officials, politicians and voters in general.

The Promo-LEX Association emphasises that the use of hate speech and incitement to discrimination in the public space and in the mass-media by candidates and their supporters harms not only the dignity of counter-candidates, by also that of people from particular social groups, including when prejudice and stereotypes are used or when people are incited to discrimination and violence.

The Observation Mission for the Elections of the President of the Republic of Moldova on 1 November 2020 is conducted by Promo-LEX Association with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) via the ‘Democracy, Transparency and Accountability’ Program, the Good Governance Department of Soros Foundation-Moldova under ‘Monitoring the Presidential Elections of 1 November 2020’ Project, and the Council of Europe under ‘Support for civic observation of 2020 Presidential Election in polling stations abroad’. ‘Hate speech’ component is supported by Justice and Human Rights Department of Soros Foundation-Moldova under ‘Consolidation of a platform for the development of activism and education in the area of human rights in Moldova – stage IV’ Project.

The translation and dissemination of this report was financially supported by the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE), which is financially supported by the European Union and funds by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, including its ifa funding program zivik.

Find the full report here.

If there are any discrepancies between the text in Romanian and its translation, the provisions formulated in Romanian shall prevail.

For more information, please contact:
Inga Stegarescu, Press Officer of Promo-LEX Association
GSM: 069 26 96 84;
E-mail: [email protected].

DECLARATION of the Promo-LEX Association regarding the electoral debate of the public television station Moldova 1, dated 12.11.2020

STATEMENT

Chisinau, 13.11.2020

Since 2016, Promo-LEX Association has been cooperating with Teleradio-Moldova public broadcaster (hereinafter Teleradio-Moldova). In particular, the signatories of the Partnership Agreement organised together a series of electoral debates, offering equal conditions for all election contenders.

This cooperation was driven by the need for joint efforts to promote informed and conscious voting, civil and electoral participation of citizens, transparency of the governance process, as well as accountability of political stakeholders and candidates during election campaigns.

Throughout the whole cooperation period, Teleradio-Moldova staff have shown professionalism, helping establish a discussion platform that allowed exchange of opinions and delivery of unbiased information to the population.

Unfortunately, we found that Teleradio-Moldova violated the provisions of its Partnership Agreement with Promo-LEX Association at the last debates for the second round of the election, held on Thursday, 12 November 2020 on public TV broadcaster Moldova 1.

It is for the first time when the persons in charge of electoral debates failed to inform Promo-LEX Association about the unilateral changes to the mutually agreed script on how to organise debates at Teleradio-Moldova, thus violating the provisions and principles of the Partnership Agreement.

We present below some aspects revealing these inadequacies, which cast a shadow on the unbiased and non-partisan nature of the public TV broadcaster Moldova 1, in the organisation of the electoral debates on 12.11.2020:

Contrary to the initial scrip of the debates, the Declaration and the Information Letter for candidates dated 12.11.2020, the candidates’ supporters were allowed to attend, though previously an agreement was reached that no viewers would be present in the room due to public health restrictions.
According to the Teleradio-Moldova policy, if a candidate is missing, the reserved time is not recovered. Thus, though initially one hour was planned for both candidates, the moderators allowed for the whole show to be dedicated to one single candidate. Or, according to the public announcement made by public TV broadcaster Moldova 1, the intention was to allocate 30 minutes for each candidate. In reality, however, the whole show lasted more than 60 minutes.
Though it was stated that candidates would have 12 minutes to answer to experts’ questions, the time offered was extended up to 20 minutes.

This can be interpreted as an intention to favour a certain election contender, provided that a series of concerted actions were found between an election contender and the management of public TV broadcaster Moldova 1. The way how the debates of 12.11.2020 were organised is a violation of best practices of organising electoral debates on a public TV station.

REPORT no. 6 | Observation Mission for the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of November 1, 2020 | ELECTION DAY

Promo-LEX Election Observation Mission presents the number of incidents on the election day, as well as the preliminary results of the quick vote counting for the presidential election of 1 November 2020

Find in the document below the preliminary results of the parallel counting of votes for the presidential elections on November 1, 2020:

The presentation is made by Observation Mission for the Elections of the President of the Republic of Moldova on 1 November 2020 and is conducted by Promo-LEX Association with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) via the ‘Democracy, Transparency and Accountability’ Program, the Good Governance Department of Soros Foundation-Moldova under ‘Monitoring the Presidential Elections of 1 November 2020’ Project, and the Council of Europe under ‘Support for civic observation of 2020 Presidential Election in polling stations abroad’. ‘Hate speech’ component is supported by Justice and Human Rights Department of Soros Foundation-Moldova under ‘Consolidation of a platform for the development of activism and education in the area of human rights in Moldova – stage IV’ Project.

If there are any discrepancies between the text in Romanian and its translation, the provisions formulated in Romanian shall prevail.

For more information, please contact: Inga Stegarescu, Press Officer of Promo-LEX Association GSM: 069 26 96 84; E-mail: [email protected]

Promo-LEX Election Observation Mission for the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020: Last details on the conduct of election

1 November 2020
Time: 10:00 p.m.

Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020 informs that as of 10:00 pm the Mission had received 520 incident reports from observers, Promo-LEX analytical team processed 439 reports, and this press release contains information on 73 incidents:

Last details on the conduct of election:

Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020 finds,

Interrupted video recording of electoral procedures for polling station opening or procedures of ballot papers counting – 6 cases.

PS 25/045 Orhei, Malaiesti. The video camera was not turned on, neither in the morning, nor when the PS was closed. The PEB Chairperson did not do anything about it, having explained that it was simply broken.
PS 27/25 Riscani, Hiliuti. The camera was not turned on when vote tabulation started. The PEB Chairperson explained that it was a technical issue that wasn’t up to them to solve.
PS 27/27 Riscani, Malinovscoe. The camera in the PS was on throughout the entire day. The PEB Chairperson said that the camera was turned on in the morning and remained on till the evening.
PS 01/051 Chisinau, Botanica. The recording was interrupted as the video camera didn’t work properly. According to observations, it overheated.
PS 25/011 Orhei, Orhei. The camera was not turned on when vote tabulation started. The PEB Chairperson said that turning it on was not necessary. After the PEB Chairperson checked the Electoral Code, he called CEC and was told that if the video camera did not have enough storage space, there was nothing to do about it.
PS 01/192, Chisinau, Rascani. The video camera stopped recording for uncertain reasons. The PEB Chairperson was informed about it and they are working on addressing it.

Intimidating observers or preventing the free observation process at the polling station – 2 cases.

PS 1/2 Chisinau, Botanica. The observers were denied access to the PS for about 10 minutes.
PS 1/1 Chisinau, Botanica. Access to the PS was restricted for disinfection purposes. Only the PEB members and Elections SAIS operators are inside.

Problematic voting with mobile ballot box – 2 cases.

PS 01/100, Chisinau, Buiucani. One and the same mobile ballot box was taken for a second time to voters between 6:35 p.m. and 6:55 p.m.
PS 01/282, Chisinau, Ciorescu. The same mobile ballot box was taken three times to voters (between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.; 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.; 4:30 p.m. and 6:35 p.m.).

Unjustified presence of unauthorised persons inside or within 100 m from the polling station – 4 cases

PS 1/261, Chisinau, Singera. The Mayor of Singera visited the PS in the company of a few councillors. He did not vote, but only tackled the issue of long queues outside the PS.
PS 6/5 Briceni, Lipcani. The mayor was seen a few times in the vicinity of the PS. The PEB members assumed he was there to meet voters transported by cars with tinted windows.
PS 18/7, Floresti, Ghindesti. Inside the PS, there was a person who introduced himself as observer. When asked by the other observers to present his credentials, he was found not to have an observer accreditation. He admitted to having lost it. As a result, the PEB Chairperson asked him to leave the PS.
PS 01/261, Chisinau, Singera. The mayor entered the PS without indenting to vote. He talked to the PEB Chairperson for 5 minutes, then spent about other 10 minutes outside watching the crowd of voters waiting for their turn.

Rumors, attempts or even situations of in-kind or cash rewards offered to voters within the are of 100 m from the polling station in order to influence them – 2 cases.

PS 19/25, Glodeni, Fundurii Vechi. A man was treating voters with alcoholic beverages (7-8 people) some 50 m away from the PS. When the PEB Chairperson was informed about it, the man was already gone.
PS 37/6 transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Gura Bicului. One of the voters transported in organised manner to the PS, was saying outside the PS that he would be paid 50 euros if he voted for a particular candidate. The PEB Chairperson notified the law enforcement officers about it, who stopped the man and talked to him.

Organised voter transportation (by buses, passenger vans or other vehicles that wouldn’t normally be around) – 3 cases.

Transnistrian region, Floresti, Sanatauca. At around 6 p.m., 3 wood slabs with nails were placed on the road from the customs to the PS in order to make it more difficult to travel from the transnistrian region. The observers travelling in a private car ended up with a flat tire because of them.
PS 37/6 transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Gura Bicului. Two cars (ROQ 472, B 870 AH) were seen transporting voters in an organised manner.
PS 1/161, Chisinau, Ciocana. A red car was transporting elderly voters. It drove within the area of two PSs. There were potato bags in the trunk.

Acts of violence or bullying against voters or other persons — 1 case.

PS 37/24 transnistrian region, Dubasari, Cocieri. An observer appointed by a candidate was assaulted verbally by the President of Dubasari District – Grigore Filipov as he was documenting (he took pictures of vehicles transporting voters) events taking place outside the PS. In the opinion of Filipov, the observer didn’t have the right to take pictures, and went as far as to call the police.

Presence of advertising materials, electoral billboards and posters in the vicinity of the polling station (within the area of 100 m from the PS) – 2 cases.

PS 18/7, Floresti, Ghindesti. Posters of all candidates were displayed within the area of 100 m from the PS.
PS 27/27 Riscani, Malinovscoe. Posters of one candidate were displayed within the area of 100 m from the PS.

Electioneering or black PR within the radius of 100 m and/or near the polling station to influence the voters – 2 cases.

PS 12/2 Criuleni, Criuleni – Centre. The PEB Chairperson electioneered in favour of a candidate inside the PS. He put his bag and a sack with the slogan of the candidate in a place for everyone to see.
PS 1/362, Italy, Pesaro Urbino.

Deficient operation of Elections SAIS (suspended functionalities; situations where Elections SAIS showed that the voter had voted, although the latter claimed he had not) – 3 cases.

PS 1/14 Chisinau, Botanica. The operators reported that the ID card scanners worked poorly, and for that reason they introduced the data in Elections SAIS manually for the most part.
PS 01/137, Chisinau, Center. Elections SAIS stopped working properly at 8:54 p.m., and the PEB members sought technical assistance. A voter, who at that time arrived to the PS to vote, was recorded on the additional list to be allowed to vote.
PS 01/084, Chisinau, Buiucani. A voter showed up at the PS in a state of anxiousness and indignation for unknown reasons. When one of the PEB members made an attempt to tone things down, the voter responded aggressively and hit an PEB member.

Deficiencies in the lists of voters (inconsistent addresses; deceased voters; signatures in the wrong place – for other people) – 3 cases.

PS 27/25 Riscani, Hiliuti. At 5:00 p.m. one voter was neither on the list of voter, nor in Elections SAIS. The PEB officials said they knew him and that he was from that constituency. CEC was notified, the voter was included on the additional lists and voted.
PS 18/29, Floresti, Ghindesti. About 120 voters on the lists of voters from Ghindesti town were included in the lists of voters of Ghindesti village. The PEB Chairperson said he knew where those people lived, but the lists were drafted with errors.
PS 1/275, Chisinau, Bacioi. One voter found that despite that he has been living in the same settlement for 30 years, he was not on the main lists of voters. The PEB members reported the same situation during the previous elections. As a result, the voter refused to participate in the voting process because he didn’t want to be included on the additional lists because he was a permanent resident and has had residence within the area of this PS.

PS 36/19 Gagauzia ATU, Ceadir Lunga. At 7:40 one voter made a picture of his ballot paper in the voting booth, and afterwards cast his vote. The PS chairperson notified the situation, but didn’t manage to respond.
PS 25/045 Orhei, Malaiesti. One voter started to shoot the lists of voters. The PEB Chairperson asked him to stop and to delete the video, but the voter became aggressive and yelled at an observer and at the PEB Chairperson. The Chairperson called the police that took measures and asked him to delete the video.
PS 25/012 Orhei, Orhei. At 7:33 p.m. one voter took pictures of the lists of voters. The PEB Chairperson insisted to delete the pictures. The voter said he deleted them.
PS 18/004 Floresti, Floresti. In the polling station, one voter took a picture of the ballot paper after using the wet stamp. He was stopped in the polling station by the PEB Chairperson and by a police officer and was asked to delete the picture. At the request of the police and PEB Chairperson, the citizen deleted the picture.
PS 1/275, Chisinau, Bacioi. A voter, after applying the stamp ‘voted’, took a picture of the ballot paper. The PEB Chairperson reprimanded him, but without any result.
PS 01/194, Chisinau, Rascani. One voter took a picture of his ballot paper. The voter deleted the picture upon the request of the PEB Chairperson.
PS 01/225, Chisinau, Rascani. One voter took a picture of his ballot paper. This was noticed by a member of the PEB. The voter deleted the picture when asked to.
PS 01/216, Chisinau, Rascani. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. The photo was deleted at the request of PEB Chairperson.
PS 01/114, Chisinau, Center. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. PEB members noticed this situation and reprimanded him.
PS 01/218, Chisinau, Riscani. A voter made a picture of his ballot paper while throwing it in the ballot box. This was notified by an observer from the PS, but PEB members did not respond. The voter left the PS in a hurry.
PS 01/261, Chisinau, Ciocana. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. The voter was reprimanded.

Unjustified termination/suspension of voting at the polling station – 1 case.

PS 36/27, ATUG, Vulcanesti. Representative of a candidate noticed and filmed how two PEB members copied the data from the lists of voters about voters who didn’t vote. After the conflict that emerged, they called for the law enforcement authority. The two PEB members were escorted to the police, and in the meantime the voting process was suspended and then resumed after 15-20 minutes.

Failure to observe COVID-19 protection and prevention measures – 5 cases.

PS 32/33 Stefan Voda, Volintiri. At 6:25 p.m. the temperatures of two voters were not taken.
PS 1/13 Chisinau, Botanica. When taking the temperatures of the observers who arrived to the PS, the information was written on a white sheet of paper – not in the PEB monitoring register, invoking the reason that the register was elsewhere. They were informed that the data would be copied later into the register.
PS 18/45, Floresti, Marculesti. Anti-COVID measures (social distancing, masks worn properly) are not observed by both voters and PEB members.
PS 32/10 Stefan Voda, Cioburciu. The observers of a candidate were talking without masks inside the PS.
PS 6/12 Briceni, Bogdanesti. Voters’ temperatures were not taken.

Ballot boxes were not sealed according to the legal procedures/tearing/damage or absence of seals on ballot boxes — 1 case.

PS 6/4 Briceni, Lipcani. At 7:40 p.m. PEB members removed the mobile ballot box seals. At 7:45 p.m. the PS received a call from a family who requested, according to the procedure, the mobile ballot box in order to exercise their right to vote. At 7:45 p.m., without removing the ballots from the mobile ballot box, the PEB members went to the needed address where 5 voters voted. The PEB members came back at 8:25 p.m.

Electricity outages – 3 cases.

PS 1/269, Chisinau, Vatra. Between 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. the electricity went out. The voting process was not interrupted because the computers were equipped with power supply units.
PS 9/23 Calarasi, Horodiste. At 9:30 a.m. the electricity went out for 5 minutes, after which the electricity supply restarted.
PS 22/002, Leova, Leova. At 5:10 p.m. in the PS the electricity went out for 40 minutes. PEB Chairperson tried to fix the problem by calling Union Fenosa, meanwhile using flashlights. The voting process was not interrupted.

Vote tabulation issues – 8 cases

PS 01/056 Chisinau, Botanica. About 6 ballot papers, with ‘Voted’ stamp applied incorrectly, were found during vote tabulation. PEB Chairperson took pictures of these ballot papers.
PS 31/02, Soldanesti, Soldanesti. Unused ballot papers are annulled at the same time with cast vote tabulation.
PS 01/218, Chisinau, Rascani. The video camera was positioned onto the ballot boxes, but it doesn’t catch the entire vote tabulation process. PEB members failed to take certain measures.
PS 15/13 Dubasari, Cosnita. The provisions of the legal framework were not observed upon the counting of ballot papers. Thus, the ballot papers were divided into 40 pieces per PEB member, distributed by candidates and then counted.
PS 01/203, Chisinau, Rascani. The camera was not positioned onto the ballot boxes to record the removal of the seals.
PS 22/33, Leova, Sarata Razesti. Vote tabulation was very messy. PEB members counted the ballot papers in a non-transparent manner. They did not present the ballot papers in favour of each candidate, but only reported the number of votes accumulated by them.
PS 01/216, Chisinau, Rascani. An unauthorised person (the school guard) was inside the PS helping with vote tabulation.
PS 01/100, Chisinau, Buiucani. An unauthorised person (driver) was inside the PS during vote tabulation.

Other – 14 cases

PS 9/35 Calarasi, Sadova. At 8:40 p.m the mobile ballot box came back to the PS, but the voters who requested it did not manage to vote. PEB Chairperson asked CEC to extend the voting process by one hour, in order to make sure that the last voters will manage to vote. CEC allowed extending the voting process.
PS 1/2 Chisinau, Botanica. Two voter with mobility impairments made significant efforts to get to the PS, because of its inaccessibility.
PS 01/108, Chisinau, Buiucani. Two voters (students) expressed their right to vote without presenting any documents to confirm their residence in Chisinau and without a voting right certificate.
PS 01/203, Chisinau, Riscani. The Elections SAIS revealed that the voter has an expired ID card. The voter was allowed to vote at the request of the PEB Chairperson.
PS 01/115, Chisinau, Center. A voter noticed that there was already a signature next to his name. The voter was very revolted, nervous and aggressive, declaring that his right was violated. The police was invited.
PS 1/379, Italy, Mestre. A ballot paper with the mark ‘voted’ on it was found in the voting booth and it was annulled.
PS 1/383, Italy, Bergamo. A voter married, but came to the PS with the ID card she had before marriage, and before changing her name. PEB members decided to allow him to vote on the basis of the unchanged ID card.
PS 6/21 Briceni, Criva. PEB members were keeping the stamp ‘voted’ on their desks. The voters had to take them together with the ballot paper. After voting, they had to return the stamps back on the members’ desk.
PS 12/13, Criuleni, Cruglic. A voter forgot his ballot paper in the voting booth and left the PS without voting. Subsequently, a voter entered the voting booth, noticed the ballot paper and informed PEB members about that. In their turn, the members drawn up a protocol and introduced the ballot paper in the ballot box.
Chisinau mun. A Promo-LEX observer was called by the representative of a candidate and was encouraged to vote.
PS 1/278, Chisinau, Bubuieci. A voter showed up at the PS without the loose leaf. He was registered by operators in Elections SAIS, but the PEB members did not allow him to vote.
PS 37/1 transnistrian region, Chisinau. A voter from the transnistrian region tried initially to vote in PS 1/225, where he was assigned according to Elections SAIS, but PEB members refused to issue a ballot paper. After PEB members from PSs 37/1 and 1/225 sorted things out, the voter voted.
PS 36/35 Gagauzia ATU, Beschioz. At 6:08 p.m., a number of 1028 persons were recorded in Elections SAIS as having voted, but there are only 1015 persons on the lists of voters. PEB members are verifying the situation.
PS 26/24 Rezina, Meseni. A voter came at 7:37 p.m., whose personal identification number and year of birth were wrong. The chairperson took measures and made the needed corrections in the database.

The press release is developed as part of the Observation Mission for the Elections of the President of the Republic of Moldova on 1 November 2020 and is conducted by Promo-LEX Association with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) via the ‘Democracy, Transparency and Accountability’ Program, the Good Governance Department of Soros Foundation-Moldova under ‘Monitoring the Presidential Elections of 1 November 2020’ Project, and the Council of Europe under ‘Support for civic observation of 2020 Presidential Election in polling stations abroad’. ‘Hate speech’ component is supported by Justice and Human Rights Department of Soros Foundation-Moldova under ‘Consolidation of a platform for the development of activism and education in the area of human rights in Moldova – stage IV’ Project.

If there are any discrepancies between the text in Romanian and its translation, the provisions formulated in Romanian shall prevail.

For more information, please contact: Inga Stegarescu, Press Officer of Promo-LEX Association GSM: 069 26 96 84; E-mail: [email protected]

Promo-LEX Election Observation Mission for the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020: New details on conduct of election

1 November 2020
Time: 7:00 p.m.

Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020 informs that as of 7:00 p.m. the Mission had received 446 incident reports from observers, Promo-LEX analytical team processed 366 reports, and this press release contains information on 170 incidents:

New details on the conduct of election:

Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020 finds,

Intimidating observers or preventing the free observation process at the polling station – 3 cases.

PS 28/4, Singerei, Singerei. Promo-LEX observer was intimidated by PEB Chairperson, who together with the police officer told that the incident should not be reported, but rather the PEB Chairperson should have been notified to solve the situation.
PS 32/10 Stefan Voda, Cioburciu. At 4:55 p.m., after the Promo-LEX observer returned from break, he was intimidated and threatened by PEB Chairperson. The Chairperson told that the observer was not allowed to take pictures and to report incidents before consulting the PEB members, and if he does so he would run into troubles.
PS 28/3, Singerei, Singerei. The thermometer used by the PS showed 37 for a Promo-LEX observer. At a different polling station, the same observer was measure the temperature and everything was fine. After returning back, the observer’s temperature was measured frequently, stating that he was suspicious.

Unjustified presence of unauthorised persons inside or within 100 m from the polling station – 10 cases

PS 18/001 Floresti, Floresti. The Mayor of Floresti spent 10 minutes inside the PS because of the periodic power blackouts. The issue was still unsolved at the time this was reported.
PS 16/043, Edinet, Ruseni. The President of Edinet District entered the PS and had a 5-minute discussion with the PEB Chairperson and left afterwards.
PS 9/7 Calarasi, Calarasi town. After 1 p.m., after having cast their votes, 8 voters entered together the building next to the PS where the PEB members were having lunch. They were acquaintances, friends of the PEB members. The PEB Chairperson did not do anything about it, he talked to them too.
PS 36/55 Gagauzia ATU, Copceac. At around 9:30 a.m. 4 people were seen about 50 meters away from the PS. They were meeting voters and filling out lists. Once the PEB Chairperson was informed about it, they left.
PS 33/1 Taraclia, Taraclia. At around 9:50 a.m., a mobile unit selling protection equipment (masks, gloves, sanitisers) and office supplies was seen in the radius of 70 m away from the PS. Once the police was informed about it, the unauthorised sellers left upon such request from the police.
PS 34/5, Telenesti, Banesti. A representative of a candidate was seen between 10:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at the gate to the premises of the PS – 50 m away from the PS. He was filling out lists. The STO informed the PEB Chairperson about it. The latter asked the person concerned to leave.
PS 27/25 Riscani, Hiliuti. At 1:45 p.m., an MP came in a Toyota. He talked to an PEB member. This MP was not assigned to this PS by place of his residence.
PS 36/8 Gagauzia ATU, Comrat. Starting with 9:00 a.m., a woman was seen periodically nearing the PS and sitting on a bench 15 m away from the entrance to the PS. She was holding a notebook with leaflets and lists with voters’ personal data. When the PEB Chairperson was informed about it at 4:00 p.m., she was asked to leave the area of the PS. The woman left and threw away the leaflets with messages in favour of a particular candidate, as well as the lists with voters’ personal data.
PS 1/379, Italy, Mestre. A person – identified by the PEB Chairperson as a volunteer, was seen periodically on the territory of the PS. It was found out that he was an acquaintance of an PEB member and also helped PEB members to set up the PS.
PS 4/39, Anenii Noi, Varnita. At around 1:15 p.m., in the area of 100 m from the PS, a woman was seen approaching elderly voters and explaining something by fingers and putting down some information in a notebook.

Rumors, attempts or even situations of in-kind or cash rewards offered to voters within the distance of 100 m from the polling station in order to influence them – 4 cases.

PS 37/36 transnistrian region, Rezina. The observer, who was next to the PS door, overheard a voter asking the person accompanying him: ‘Where can I collect the 800 lei I was promised…?’. The voter was given a sign by the latter to wait until they will have left the PS.
PS 37/3 transnistrian region, Rezina. The observer overheard in the hallway of the PS two voters concurring who to vote for according to the instructions they were given. One of them was expected to vote for a particular candidate, and the second – for another candidate. With regards to when they were supposed to collect the money, the answer was that they were to receive it later, in the car, after they provide proof of their votes.
PS 33/25 Taraclia, Novosiolovca. At 11:20 a.m., a voter told the Promo-LEX observer that there was a Nissan (registration plate CDY 003) 60 m away from the PS. The voter said that its driver was offering money in exchange for a vote for a particular candidate. Once the PEB Chairperson became aware of it, that person left the PS vicinity at 2:15 p.m.
PS 25/37 Orhei, Isacova. A mobile store was seen less than 100 m away from the PS. The PEB Chairperson announced the law enforcement officers about it. It was thereafter relocated.

Organised voter transportation (by buses, passenger vans or other vehicles that wouldn’t normally be around) – 21 cases.

PS 11/038 Cimislia, Porumbrei. A green passenger van with registration plate ZZ K 266 was seen bringing voters to the PS. The voters claimed they lived in the neighbouring village and that they were transported only because the PS was far away. The van was seen twice.
PS 36/8 Gagauzia ATU, Comrat. At 11:00 a.m., an Opel with vehicle registration plate GE BF 301 was seen 20-30 meters away from the PS. It transported voters and it still continues. The car was seen at least four times. When the PEB Chairperson was notified, he answered that it was not within his powers to address the situation.
PS 25/045 Orhei, Malaiesti. A grey Toyota Yaris with vehicle registration plate PS 873 was seen transporting voters at 1.00 p.m. and 3.09 p.m. It was transporting elderly voters for whom commuting was difficult. The driver was a councillor.
PS 37/9, transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Varnita. A yellow van was seen several times transporting people from the transnistrian region to the PS. About 30 voters were transported to the PS in total. The van did not return after the law enforcement officers showed up.
PS 37/36 transnistrian region, Rezina. Two vans came from Ribnita bringing about 30 voters from the transnistrian region. Vehicle registration plates: T959ET, P862CD.
PSs 37/17 and 37/18, transnistrian region, Causeni, Copanca. A van that made several trips was involved in organised voter transportation from the transnistrian region. About 25 people were transported. Vehicle registration plate C097НТ. Another car with vehicle registration plate C266СВ came twice and brought 4 people each time. Other cases also involved sedan cars transporting 3-4 people to vote.
PS 37/38 and 37/39, transnistrian region, Rezina. Vehicles with vehicle registration plates Р183СТ, Р672ЕА, Р274СР were seen transporting voters from the transnistrian region in an organised manner. Each of these vehicles was seen 2-3 times bringing 4 people each time. These vehicles were seen periodically around other PSs in Rezina. Upon arrival, the voters are given packages with a mask and gloves. All packages are identical.
PS 37/22 transnistrian region, Criuleni. A car was seen at 10.13 a.m. and then again at 12.20 p.m. transporting voters from Dubasari, left bank of Nistru River (5 voters each time). Vehicle registration plate E951.
PS 37/18 transnistrian region, Causeni, Copanca. The following vehicles transported voters from the transnistrian region: VW golf С459ЕМ, Fiat С832СР, Mercedes С253ЕМ. These cars commute between the customs and the PS. The employees of the MRT customs hand out packages with protective masks, gloves and pens to the citizens leaving the transnistrian region. A group of veterans positioned at the customs is watching cars coming from the transnistrian region. The vehicles are also checked by the police.
PS 37/33 transnistrian region, Floresti, Sanatauca. A vehicle with registration plate K416AX commuted between Camenca and the PS 3 times, bringing 2-3 voters each time.
PS 37/33 transnistrian region, Rezina. Two cars with registration plates VW Р178ВТ and Т448ВМ travelled 3 times to the PS, bringing 3-4 voters each time.
PS 37/23 transnistrian region, Criuleni. A car with registration plates E056BM travelled 4 times to the PS bringing each time 3 people from the bridge in Ustia.
PS 37/28 and 37/29 transnistrian region, Dubasari, Dorotcaia. Passenger van В518АК made two tript, bringing 4 persons each time.
PS 1/329, Russian Federation, Moscow. Several people travelled to and from the PS by the same bus, in an organised manner.
PS 37/33 transnistrian region, Floresti, Sanatauca. The cars Reno K416AX, Lada R146AT, Mercedes C395BT brought voters from Camenca in an organised manner.
PS 37/18 transnistrian region, Causeni, Copanca. A VW with registration plates C459EM came 4 times to the PS bringing each time 4 voters from the transnistrian region.
PSs 37/20 and 37/21, transnistrian region, Causeni, Hagimus. A van with registration plate VJA 647 was involved in the organised transportation of 9 voters from Bender.
PS 37/3 transnistrian region, Anenii Noi. A high traffic of cars with transnistrian registration plates was reported.
PSs 37/38 and 37/39, transnistrian region, Rezina. A VW Р543СР was involved in organised voter transportation. It was seen at least 5 times, bringing 5 voters each time.
PS 37/33 transnistrian region, Floresti, Sanatauca. A Reno with registration plate K144 was involved in organised regular transportation of voters.
PS 37/25 transnistrian region, Dubasari, Cocieri. One STO overheard at the PS door voters who had just voted talking about going to a place not far from the PS, where the vehicles that brought them were waiting to take them back home.

Acts of violence or bullying against voters or other persons — 1 case.

PS 37/10, transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Varnita. At about 12 p.m., a group of local inhabitants engaged in a dispute with voters from the transnistrian region. The dispute was resolved when the police showed up.

Presence of advertising materials, electoral billboards and posters in the vicinity of the polling station (within the area of 100 m from the PS) – 15 cases.

PS 7/6 Cahul, Cahul. Posters of a candidate were found less than 100 meters away from the PS. The PEB Chairperson was informed about it.
PS 4/28, Anenii Noi, Mereni. A large advertising billboard of a candidate was spotted less than 100 meters away from the PS. The PEB Chairperson informed the observer that the billboard was in fact located farther than 100 meters away from the PS.
PS 27/023 Riscani, Galaseni. Election posters in favour of a candidate are displayed at about 30 meters from the entrance of the PS.
PS 18/071, Floresti, Zaluceni. Within the area of 100m from the PS, A4 folded leaflets promoting two candidates are displayed on the information board.
PS 18/12, Floresti, Bahrinești. A4 folded leaflets promoting two candidates are displayed at 60m from the PS.
PS 31/32 Vadul Rașcov, Soldanesti. At 50m from the polling station there is a board with posters in support of a candidate.
PS 18/65, Floresti, Trifanesti. At about 80 meters distance from the PS there are boards with electoral messages in favour of four candidates.
PS 37/4 transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Calfa. Close to the PS there is a banner promoting a candidate.
PS 9/36 Calarasi, Saseni. Within the area of 50 meters from the PS, billboards in favour of a candidate were noticed.
PS 34/17, Telenesti, Ciulucani. At 2:25 p.m., in the vicinity of the PS advertising materials promoting two candidates were noticed. 10 minutes after the PEB chairperson was informed, these ones were removed.
PS 18/61, Floresti, Stefănești. Within the area of 100 meters from the PS, a number of billboards in favour of all candidates were noticed.
PS 1/302, Chisinau, Colonita. A candidate’s banner is displayed within 100 meters from the PS.
PS 18/55, Floresti, Rosietici. Folded leaflets of two candidates were noticed within the area of 20 m form the PS.
PSs 37/4 and 37/5, transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Calfa. A candidate’s banner was noticed within 100 meters from the PS.
PS 37/41 transnistrian region, Stefan Voda. Close to the PS there is an electoral panel promoting a candidate.

Electioneering or black PR within the radius of 100 m and/or near the polling station to influence the voters – 6 cases.

PS 04/037, Anenii Noi, Tintareni. The local councillor was electioneering on behalf of a candidate within the area of 100 m from the PS. When seeing the Promo-LEX observer, he left.
PS 36/19 Gagauzia ATU, Ceadar Lunga. A voter wearing a cap with a caption about a candidate entered the PS at around 11:30 a.m. The PEB members did not say anything to him.
PS 7/53, Cahul, Pelinei. The observer saw a woman showing up periodically: at 11:00 a.m., 2:45 p.m., 4:57 p.m., less than 100 m away from the PS, electioneering and urging voters on their way to the PS to vote for a particular candidate.
PS 9/40 Calarasi, Temeleuti. A voter posted on Facebook a picture of his ballot paper with a caption about a candidate.
PS 18/13, Floresti, Casunca. A car with registration plate YXY 239 and the name of a candidate written on it parked at 4:20 p.m., 50 m away from the PS. It stayed at the PS for a long time.
PS 11/5, Cimislia. The car of an PEB member was stamped with electoral stickers in favour of a candidate. It was parked the whole day near the PS.

Deficient operation of Elections SAIS (suspended functionalities; situations where Elections SAIS showed that the voter had voted, although the latter claimed he had not) – 11 cases.

PS 14/1 Drochia, Drochia. A voter was not able to vote because he was supposed to have gone to a different PS according to the Elections SAIS, although according to his place of residence – he was supposed to vote in this PS. The voter has not voted.
PS 15/2 Dubasari, Cocieri. A voter whose place of residence was in the area of the PS was assigned in the Elections SAIS to a PS according to the institution where she was studying. She was recorded in an additional list and cast her vote.
PS 25/050 Orhei, Morozeni. The date of birth from voters’ ID card was inconsistent with the date of birth in the Elections SAIS. The operators noticed this inconsistency starting with 4 p.m. CEC informed them that is was a system error and that they had to make sure that the IDNP matched.
PS 7/6 Cahul, Cahul. Although according to their place of residence 10 voters were supposed to have been assigned to PS 7/6, they were referred to another PS by the Elections SAIS.
PS 01/125, Chisinau, Center. The Elections SAIS showed that a voter had already voted. The voter was told he was not allowed to vote again. The voter showed the PEB members the loose leaf of his ID card, where no stamp confirming he had voted had been placed and insisted that they checked again. The repeated check showed that the voter hadn’t voted and he was therefore allowed to vote.
PS 01/232, Chisinau, Rascani. Elections SAIS didn’t work for about 15 minutes starting 4:30 p.m. The PEB Chairperson sought technical assistance. The voters were recorded on paper during the time that the system didn’t work.
PS 01/154, Chisinau, Ciocana. A family showed up at the PS, all of them residing on the same address. One of the family members was told that according to the Elections SAIS, he was supposed to go to another PS to vote. The PEB Chairperson recommended him to call the hotline. The voter left without having voted.
PS 27/25 Riscani, Hiliuti. A voter was neither on the list of voter, nor in Elections SAIS. The PEB officials said they knew him and that he was from that constituency. CEC was notified, the voter was included on the additional lists and voted.
PS 1/383, Italy, Bergamo. One voter was not found in the SVR by his IDNP. It said that such a person did not exist.
PS 37/11, transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Varnita. There was no connection with the Elections SAIS for about 5 minutes.
PS 1/34 Chisinau, Botanica. Starting 7:15 a.m. the connection with Elections SAIS was gone for 10 minutes. Voting was stalled for that period.

Deficiencies in the lists of voters (inconsistent addresses; deceased voters; signatures in the wrong place – for other people) – 11 cases.

PS 01/241, Chisinau, Riscani. One voter found that a stranger was indicated as living in his apartment. The same situation happened during the previous years. Although the voter previously checked with the Multifunctional Centre of PSA, the individual was not identified. The PEB members recommended him to check one more time with the Multifunctional Centre.
PS 16/13, Edinet, Cupcini, Chetrosica Veche. One voter noticed that someone signed instead of him on the main lists of voters. The PEB Chairperson told to the voter that an PEB member had made a mistake. The voter was allowed to cast his vote.
PS 25/009, Orhei, Orhei. Various voters were not on the lists of voters, because they were assigned to other PSs. The situation resulted into disputes and inconveniences. Various such incidents were identified throughout the day.
PS 01/054 Chisinau, Botanica. A voter informed PEB members that the list of voters contained the name of an individual who did not live at that address and has had residence at another address for a long time.
PS 01/266, Chisinau, Vadul lui Voda. A voter who came at the polling station was identified in Elections SAIS, but was not identified in the voter list. The voter, irritated, left the polling station and gave up casting his vote. PEB Chairperson tried to identify him to persuade him to come back and vote.
PS 21/014 Ialoveni, Costesti. Until the time of reporting, about 20 voters were not found on the main lists of voters because they were assigned to other PSs. This fact provoked yelling and dissatisfaction in the PSs.
PS 9/40 Calarasi, Temeleuti. A deceased person was identified in a list of voters.
PS 36/40 Gagauzia ATU, Cazaclia. A voter was not on the list of voters and was included in the additional lists.
PS 32/31 Stefan Voda, Talmaza. Various voters revolted because they were not found in the lists of voters and were redirected to another PS. The voters usually voted at that polling station. Two spouses with the same residence were assigned to two different polling stations.
PS 27/25 Riscani, Hiliuti. A voter was neither on the list of voter, nor in Elections SAIS. The PEB officials said they knew him and that he was from that constituency. CEC was notified, the voter was included on the additional lists and voted.
PS 18/55, Floresti, Rosietici. PEB Chairperson informed the observer that residents from the neighbouring village – Rosietici Vechi, are included in the lists of voters.

Unjustified group voting (2 or more people were in the voting booth at the same time) – 3 cases

PS 01/108, Chisinau, Buiucani. Two voters (mother and daughter) entered a single voting booth. The daughter was telling her mother who to vote for. PEB members warned them and the daughter stepped out.
PS 13/005, Donduseni, Baraboi. One of the three ballot boxes inside the PS was sealed with 3 seals only.
PS 01/003 Chisinau, Botanica. Two voters voted in the same voting booth having explained they were elderly, although they did not present any visual impairments.

PS 18/22, Floresti, Floresti. A voter made a picture of his ballot paper in the voting booth. The PEB Chairperson warned him, which provoked a dispute. The voter introduced the ballot paper in the ballot box.
PS 01/108, Chisinau, Buiucani. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. When he was asked to erase the picture he refused and explained the as the right to take pictures. The police documents the case.
PS 01/105, Chisinau, Buiucani. A voter (mother) told to another voter (son) from the neighbouring booth who to vote for. When he exited the voting booth, the son reconfirmed that he voted as he was told to.
PS 01/029 Chisinau, Botanica. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. When he was asked to delete the picture he refused to comply. Upon the insistence of PEB members, the voter was aggressive and threatened to tear the ballot paper in public, in front of the observers. The police was invited to the site.
PS 01/091, Chisinau, Buiucani. One voter took a picture of his ballot paper. The observers notified the PEB members about this deviation, but they did not step in.
PS 7/8 Cahul, Cahul t. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. Later, after the PS members intervened, the picture was deleted.
PS 23/031 Nisporeni, Seliste. A voter made a picture of his ballot paper in the voting booth. The PEB Chairperson responded to the situation and the picture was deleted.
PS 20/046 Hincesti, Mingir. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. The observers notified the PEB Chairperson about the incident. At the insistence of PEB Chairperson, the voter refused to delete the picture.
PS 32/31 Stefan Voda, Talmaza. At 12:30 p.m. a voter took a picture of the ballot paper. Not a single PEB member did anything until the voter left the polling station.
PS 36/8 Gagauzia ATU, Comrat. At 2:37 p.m. a voter took a picture of the ballot paper. When the PEB Chairperson was notified, he answered that he could not step in in such cases.
PS 32/8, Straseni, Bucovat. At 3:20 p.m. a voter took a picture of the ballot paper.
PS 36/57 Gagauzia ATU, Dezghinja. At 3:12 p.m. a voter was noticed when he took a picture of the ballot paper. After throwing the ballot paper in the ballot box, the individual was stopped by the PEB Chairperson who took his phone. The PEB Chairperson called the police. When the police arrived, the PEB Chairperson gave the phone to them.
PS 01/087, Chisinau, Buiucani. When exiting the voting booth, the husband said to his wife, who was heading to the voting booth, who he voted for and showed in the ballot paper the candidate he chose.
PS 01/137, Chisinau, Center. One voter took a picture of his ballot paper. The PEB Chairperson asked the voter to delete the picture and he complied.
PS 01/105, Chisinau, Buiucani. One voter took a picture of his ballot paper in front of the polling station and observers. PEB members asked him to delete the picture in front of them and the voter complied.
PS 01/192, Chisinau, Rascani. At 5:56 p.m. a voter took a picture of his ballot paper. One member of the PEB asked him to delete the picture.
PS 9/40 Calarasi, Temeleuti. One voter took a picture of his ballot paper and posted it on Facebook. The PEB Chairperson warned the voters about not being allowed to take pictures of the ballot paper.
PS 32/3 Stefan Voda, Stefan Voda. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. After that, the PEB Chairperson asked him to delete the picture and allowed him to throw the ballot paper in the ballot box.
PS 1/380, Italy, Milano. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper.
PS 1/377, Italy, Treviso. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper, but at the PEB Chairperson’s request it was deleted.
SV 1/349 Germany, Frankfurt on Main. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper.
SV 1/353 Germany, Kassel. A voter made a picture of his ballot paper in the voting booth. He was seen by the PEB Chairperson and asked to delete the picture. The voter, revolted, left the PS after deleting the picture.
PS 1/377, Italy, Treviso. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper, but at the PEB chairperson’s request it was deleted.
PS 1/405, Netherlands, The Hague. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper.
PS 37/1 transnistrian region, Chisinau. A voter made a picture of his ballot paper in the voting booth. PEB chairperson informed him that this was illegal.
PS 37/6 transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Gura Bicului. About 20 voters from the transnistrian region were brought to the PS in an organised manner.
PS 37/1 transnistrian region, Chisinau. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper with the mark ‘voted’ on it. PEB Secretary reprimanded him but he replied that being a lawyer he knows his rights – all this in a raised voice. The PEB chairperson stressed it once again, but to no avail.
PS 37/1 transnistrian region, Chisinau. In response to a voter taking a picture of the ballot paper PEB members reprimanded him without insisting that the picture be deleted. The voter threw the ballot in the ballot box and left the PS.

Unjustified termination/suspension of voting at the polling station – 5 cases.

PS 18/012, Floresti, Bahrinești. Between 5:14 p.m. and 5:17 p.m., the electricity in the PS went out, during which time the voting process was interrupted. After the electricity supply restarted, the voting process was resumed.
PS 7/60 Cahul, Vadul lui Isac. The voting process was stalled for 5 minutes to carry out the disinfection. PEB members stated that they did this 3 times during the day.
PS 11/5, Cimislia. The car of an PEB member was stamped with electoral stickers in favour of a candidate. It was parked the whole day near the PS.
PS 1/1 Chisinau, Botanica. The voting process is stopped for 10 minutes for disinfection – during which time all voters are asked to wait outside.
PS 1/14 Chisinau, Botanica. During the 10-15 minutes breaks for premises disinfection the voting process is stopped, during which the voters are not allowed to enter the PS and vote.

Failure to observe COVID-19 protection and prevention measures – 37 cases.

PS 19/017, Glodeni, Cuhnesti. The PEB chairperson did not allow a voter to enter the PS for not having a protection mask. The voter left without voting.
PS 32/033 Stefan Voda, Volintiri. The voters’ temperatures are not taken when entering the PS. After some discussions among PEB members, taking the temperature was resumed.
PS 18/065, Floresti, Trifanesti. The body temperature register is missing in the PS.
PS 01/154, Chisinau, Ciocana. A voter refused his temperature to be taken – as a result he decided not to vote at all.
PS 11/024, Cimislia, Gura Galbenei. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS.
PS 01/190, Chisinau, Riscani. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (15 voters, 3 voting booths). PEB members stepped in and asked the voters to wait outside the PS until they were invited to vote.
PS 01/203, Chisinau, Riscani. Inside the PS there are consistently more voters than the number of voting booths – as a result it gets crowded. PEB members did nothing.
PS 01/292, Chisinau, Stauceni. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (10 voters, 4 voting booths). PEB Chairperson solved the issue at that time.
PS 01/196, Chisinau, Riscani. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (7 voters, 2 voting booths). PEB Chairperson stepped in and blocked the access for other voters until the number of people within PS decreased.
PS 01/195, Chisinau, Riscani. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (5 voters, 2 voting booths). PEB Chairperson asked a few voters to leave the PS, in order to be invited later.
PS 01/291, Chisinau, Stauceni. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS. PEB members did nothing, the crowd spread out by itself.
PS 9/7 Calarasi, Calarasi. Three voters expressed their vote at 2:00 p.m., even their temperature was above 37.2. The access was allowed by the doctor at the entrance. PEB Chairperson was not present at that time and knows nothing about the incident. Additionally, an operator within PS had fever higher than 37.2.
PS 10/41 Causeni, Taraclia. There were 6 persons and 3 voting booths in the PS. The PEB Chairperson did not do anything about it.
PS 9/7 Calarasi, Calarasi town. A lady wearing incorrectly her mask entered the PS. She was wearing it on the hand. Although she was warned by the PEB Chairperson, the voter refused to wear the mask. The lady expressed her right to vote, but without wearing properly the protection mask.
PS 32/21 Stefan Voda, Popeasca. At 1:59 p.m. the observer noticed that neither voters, nor PEB members kept the social distance of 1 meter.
PS 32/21 Stefan Voda, Popeasca. At 4:00 p.m. more than 7 voters were allowed inside the PS, but there are 3 voting booths in the polling station. The social distance is not observed.
PS 10/36 Causeni, Plop Stiubei. At 4:15 p.m., a voter with fever higher than 37 showed up at the PS. The Chairperson informed the voter that he cannot create individual condition for him to vote in the PS, and the mobile ballot box was already gone. The voter has not voted.
PS 10/4 Causeni, Causeni. At 4:45 p.m. there were 12 voters, although the polling station had 5 voting booths. The PEB Chairperson did nothing about it.
PS 18/071, Floresti, Zaluceni. More voters than the number of voting booths were inside the PS. The PEB Chairperson did not step in.
PS 32/011 Stefan Voda, Copceac. More voters than the number of voting booths entered inside the PS (6 voters, while in the PS were 3 voting booths).
PS 01/193, Chisinau, Riscani. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (8 voters, while in the PS were 3 voting booths). PEB members solved the issue.
PS 01/213, Chisinau, Riscani. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (12 voters, while in the PS there were 4 voting booths only). PEB members did nothing in order to solve the issue.
PS 18/65, Floresti, Trifanesti. The social distance is not observed at the entrance of the PS.
PS 37/12, transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Varnita. The social distance is not observed at the entrance of the PS.
PS 18/44, Floresti, Lunga. Some observers do not respect the social distance and do not wear properly the protection mask.
PS 32/21 Stefan Voda, Popeasca. At 5:41 p.m. more than 6 voters were allowed inside the PS with 3 voting booths. The physical distancing is not observed.
PS 37/3, transnistrian region, Anenii Noi. At 11:18 a.m there were 6 persons in the PS, though there are only 2 voting booths.
PS 18/59, Floresti, Sevirova. The failure to observe the social distancing between PEB members was reported.
PS 37/36 transnistrian region, Rezina. Six voters entered the PS, although there are only 2 voting booths. Moreover, 2 observers from parties were not wearing the mask within the PS.
PS 31/26, Soldanesti, Raspopeni. The voters were queueing up at the entrance of the PS, without wearing masks or observing the social distance.
PS 18/37, Floresti, Iliciovca. The social distancing between PEB members is not observed.
PS 18/65, Orhei, Floresti, Trifanesti. The social distancing between PEB members is not observed.
PS 18/28, Floresti, Frumusica. The failure to respect the social distancing between PEB members and observers from political parties was noticed.
PS 18/52, Floresti, Prodanesti. The register on monitoring the PEB members’ temperature is missing, and the PEB Chairperson and a member are not wearing the mask properly.
PS 16/12, Edinet, Cupcini. The temperature of PEB members is not measured within the PS. They do not wear masks, and the social distancing between observers is not ensured.
PS 18/61, Floresti, Stefanesti. PEB Chairperson and members did not wear correctly the protection masks.
PS 31/24, Soldanesti, Pohoarna. PEB members did not wear face shields, and there were 7 voters in the PS, though there are only 3 voting booths.
PS 18/16, Floresti, Ciutulesti. There were 5 persons in the PS, given that there were only 3 voting booths.
PS 6/35, Briceni, Slobozia Sirauti. The temperature is not taken, and an PEB member is not wearing the mask.

Ballot boxes were not sealed according to the legal procedures/tearing/damage or absence of seals on ballot boxes — 8 cases.

PS 29/054 Soroca, Stoicani. One of the stationary ballot boxes was sealed only with one seal. PEB members said it would be used as a mobile ballot box.
PS 2/52 Balti, Balti. At 4:55 p.m the Promo-LEX observer noted that the mobile ballot box had one damaged seal. PEB Chairperson said he would solve the issue.
PS 31/006, Soldanesti, Gauzeni. The mobile ballot box was incorrectly sealed. PEB members affixed 2 seals on the ziplock.
PS 06/031 Briceni, Medveja. The mobile ballot box was not sealed. PEB members said they intended to seal it when heading off to voters’ homes.
PS 29/24 Soroca, Cosauti. The stationary ballot boxes had only 2 seals each. PEB members stated they did not know they had to affix 4 seals.
PS 4/1, Anenii Noi, Anenii Noi town. The observer noted that the mobile ballot box had two seals instead of one.
PS 13/5, Donduseni, Baraboi. The ballot box was sealed only with 3 seals.
PS 6/35, Briceni, Slobozia Sirauti. The ballot boxes were sealed only with 3 seals.

Other – 7 cases

PS 01/228, Chisinau, Rascani. A voter declared she was called by PEB members to show up at the PS in order to express her right to vote. PEB members said that they had called nobody and the accusation was unfounded. The voter has written a complaint with respect to this issue. After several accusations, the voter expressed her right to vote.
PS 15/11 Dubasari, Oxentea. An observer was called by an unknown number. The caller introduced himself as a PSRM representative and urged him to vote, without mentioning who to vote for.
PS 8/34 Cantemir, Hanaseni. At 3:35 p.m. the Promo-LEX observer was called by the representative of a candidate and asked if he voted. According to the representative, the phone number was selected from the list containing the signatory people supporting the candidate, although the observer has not signed such a list.
PS 7/6 Cahul, Cahul town. At 10:20 a.m. the PEB Secretary proposed to the observers to sign the special form for vote tabulation, which had been already signed by the PEB Chairperson, stating that in the evening the schedule is going to be busy. The form was signed by several observers. Promo-LEX observer did not sign it.
PS 01/087, Chisinau, Buiucani. As many as 3-4 polling stations are located within the ‘Onisifor Ghibu’ High School. PS inscriptions are tiny and mislead the voters. As a result it gets crowded, voters are revolting and are leaving home in whole groups without voting.
PS 2/22 Balti, Balti. The electricity went out for a short period of time (5 minutes), and then was resumed. The process was not interrupted.
PS 01/150, Chisinau, Buiucani. One voter voted on the basis of an ID card, but without an loose leaf. The PEB Chairperson asked him to sign an affidavit confirming that he had not voted elsewhere.

If there are any discrepancies between the text in Romanian and its translation, the provisions formulated in Romanian shall prevail.

For more information, please contact: Inga Stegarescu, Press Officer of Promo-LEX Association GSM: 069 26 96 84; E-mail: [email protected]

Promo-LEX Election Observation Mission for the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020 | new details on conduct of election

1 November 2020
Time: 2:00 pm

Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020 informs that as of 2:00 pm the Mission had received 326 incident reports from observers, Promo-LEX analytical team processed 196 reports, and this press release contains information on 161 incidents:

New details on the conduct of election:

Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020 finds,

Unjustified presence of unauthorised persons inside or within 100 m from the polling station – 11 cases

PS 36/7 Gagauzia ATU, Comrat. At 9:15 a.m., two people wearing clothes with the inscription ”Народный Антикризисный Штаб- НАШ” [eng. National Anti-Crisis Task Force] showed up at the entrance of the PS. The PEB Chairperson reacted 15 min and the police asked them to leave the PS. They justified being present there in order to help persons with disabilities. Later these persons left the PS at a distance of about 70-100 meters.
PS 36/6 Gagauzia ATU, Comrat. At 9:23 a.m., there was a person wearing clothes with the inscription ”Народный Антикризисный Штаб- НАШ” [eng. National Anti-Crisis Task Force] at the entrance of PS. PEB Chairperson was notified and he asked the former to leave the PS. This person left the premises and did not justify his presence.
PS 36/8 Gagauzia ATU, Comrat. At 9:45, there were 2 persons wearing clothes with ”НАШ” inscription within the area of 100 meters from the PS, talking to people. At 10:00 a.m., PEB Chairperson asked them to leave the area. These persons left the PS area (100 m) in one hour.
PS 36/44 Gagauzia ATU, Comrat. At 9:15, there were 2 persons wearing clothes with ”НАШ” inscription within the area of 100 meters from the PS. They stayed there for 15 minutes. Later, PEB Chairperson together with the police asked them to leave the area of 100 m from the polling station.
PS 1/218, Chisinau, Rascani. One person, who supposedly is an observer from the nearby polling station, entered the PS to talk to another observer (supposedly from a candidate) about the correctness of voting with a mobile ballot box. That person spent about 15-20 minutes in the polling station.
PS 32/8, Stefan Voda, Carahasani. At 9:40, a voter, after having exercised his right to vote, remained within the PS, and then after leaving, returned several times to the PS. PEB Chairperson asked him to leave the PS. This person stayed within the area of 100 m. from the PS for about 20 minutes to talk to voters.
PS 7/3, Cahul. ”Anti-Crisis Community Center” NGO, represented by 2 people wearing the Center’s visibility signs are accompanying and transporting voters to the PS (elderly persons).
PS 24/25, Ocnita, Mihalaseni. A lady, chairperson of a territorial branch of a party, was discussing with people within the area of 100 meters from the PS. She had stayed there for about one hour.
PS 1/163, Chisinau, Ciocana. At about 09:11, there were two persons within the PS, telling people that they could help them vote. When asked by the PEB Chairperson, the respective persons left.
PS 25/031 Orhei, Cucuruzeni. After casting their vote, several persons supporting a candidate, had stayed for 30 min. within the area of 10 meters from the PS, without any reprimand by PEB members.
PS 1/325, Russian Federation, Moscow. There were unauthorised persons within the PS. After 20 minutes, they were notified and left the PS.

Rumors, attempts or even situations of in-kind or cash rewards offered to voters within the are of 100 m from the polling station in order to influence them – 9 cases.

Transnistrian region, Rezina. In the vicinity of Ribnita-Rezina bridge, observers noticed that all voters coming from the transnistrian region have protection equipment (mask and gloves) of the same type, and many of them had similar bags.
PS 37/17 transnistrian region, Causeni. A vehicle was parked near the PS, where voters coming from the transnistrian region received masks, gloves and pens. After observers made video and photo evidence, the vehicle left.
PS 37/14 transnistrian region, Causeni. Voters from the transnistrian region came to PEB members to ask where they could get the money for voting. After PEB members explain that they will not be paid for voting, some of them left without voting.
PS 37/19, transnistrian region, Causeni, Firladeni. Discussion with voters from the transnistrian region revealed that electors from Bender were remunerated with 100 rubles, and those from Tiraspol – with 400 rubles.
PS 1/327, Russian Federation, Moscow. Observer from a party did not notice how an unknown person gave money to a lady that exited the PS.
PS 2/58 Balti, Balti town. A lady was electioneering within an area of 15-20 m from the PS — she approached a man and gave him some cash.
PS 18/54, Floresti, Radulenii Vechi. At 08:40 a.m. — there is a market and three stores at a distance of about 300 m from the PS. For about 20 minutes, observers saw a number of persons entering the store, immediately after exiting the PS, in order to take what was offered to them. While exiting the store, the respective voters did not carry anything they might had bought in the store. There was a person in each store to monitor the situation and take note of who was coming into the store.
PS 1/54 Chisinau, Botanica. PEB members informed observers about a case of rewarding voters. After a voter cast his vote, the observer from an electoral candidate left the premises together with the voter and gave him cash (banknotes of 100-200 lei were noticed). This case was also noticed by an PEB member, who went out to buy something from a nearby shop.
PS 29/10 Soroca, Soroca. At 10.30 a.m. and 11.20 a.m., a lady was noticed holding several lists. She was in an old abandoned building, across the polling station. A number of voters were noticed to go to that building after casting their votes. It is assumed that they were paid. The PEB Chairperson notified the police.

Organised voter transportation (by buses, passenger vans or other vehicles that wouldn’t normally be around) – 17 cases.

Transnistrian region, Rezina. Voters are brought by buses from the transnistrian region to the control point near the bridge connecting Rezina and Ribnita. They get off at the control point and then walk or drive by cars to the PSs in Rezina.
PS 37/37 transnistrian region, Rezina. Personal vehicles were noticed near ‘Olimp’ Theoretical Lyceum, where the PS is located, that drive back and forth and transport voters from the transnistrian region.
PS 37/22 and 37/23, transnistrian region, Criuleni. A number of vehicles were noticed to cross several times the bridge near Criuleni. A group of combatants are located in the same region, and document all citizens from the left bank of the Nistru river, who cross the bridge.
PS 10/7 transnistrian region, Causeni. Several sources informed the observer that a passenger van transported voters from the transnistrian region, who got off the van in fron of the multi-purpose center of Causeni t.
PS 37/10, Transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Varnita. Voters are transported in an organised manner to the PS.
PS 37/38 and 37/39, transnistrian region, Rezina. At least 12 vehicles were noticed to transport voters in an organised manner, of which at least two are passenger vans (P041BH, P402CE, P703EA, P210BT, P529CO, P612cx, P747BE, P059CT, P377CE, T959ET (passenger van), P377CE (passenger van)).
PS 37/20 and 37/21, transnistrian region, Criuleni, Hagimus. In Bender, about 32 persons were transported in an organised manner with passenger vans with a capacity of 8 places.
PS 37/24 and 37/25 transnistrian region, Dubasari, Cocieri. Voter from the transnistrian region are transported in an organised manner to the Cocieri bridge. There they get off the bus and are then transported by several smaller cars, with a capacity of up to 7 seats, to the PS in Cocieri. The vehicles used to transport passengers to the PS have the following registration numbers: У613уа98 (Russian Federation), DB AH 203.
PS 37/19, transnistrian region, Causeni, Firladeni. There are many cars with transnistrian registration numbers at the PS. The drivers took pictures at the PS to have evidence that they brought people. The drivers take turns to different PSs to create the impression that voters are coming by themselves. Registration numbers of the vehicles that transport citizens: T885МТ, T212TT.
PS 11/26 Cimislia, Hirtop. At 12:20 p.m., a passenger van was noticed; about 12 persons got out of it and walked to the PS to cast their votes. Registration number: CM AI 116.
PSs 37/20 and 37/21, transnistrian region, Causeni, Hagimus. Organised transportation for voters from the transnistrian region is provided from the Bender customs. Voters are transported to the PS in groups of 7-8 persons by a car. When the locals noticed that, they tried to block the access road to the PS. A representative of an election contender was among them.
PSs 37/17 and 37/18, transnistrian region, Causeni, Copanca. Citizens from the transnistrian region are transported from Copanca customs by cars, in groups of 5 people. The cars are travelling back and forth and have brought about 30 persons. Registration numbers: T723EX, VW Șaran 905, Mercedes Sprinter С097НТ.
PS 37/6 transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Gura Bicului. Voters from the transnistrian region were brought in an organised manner by a passenger van. As reported by police offices, who stopped the van, this vehicle was bringing voters for the second time.
PS 01/262, Chisinau, Singera. At 11.15 a.m., a yellow Mercedes Sprinter, registration number CKV 577, was noticed. Nine persons got out of it. The passenger van had neither a note saying it was transporting passengers, not any sign of public transportation.
PS 36/44 Gagauzia ATU, Chirsova. At 9:00 a.m., a white passenger van was noticed to transport 5-6 voters each time. During one hour, the van transported three groups of voters.
PS 26/9 Rezina, Busauca. A white Ford Transit with the registration number RZ AH 757 was seen to transport twice voters, between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. About 10 voters were transported at 10:00 a.m., and about 4 voters – at 11:00 a.m. The driver of the van was the village mayor. This vehicle was seen twice in the vicinity of the polling station.
PS 28/37, Singerei, Dobrogea Veche. Between 11.00 a.m. and 11.10 a.m., a green Mercedes van was noticed in the area of the PS. At least 4 persons were transported in an organised manner.

Presence of advertising materials, electoral billboards and posters in the vicinity of the polling station (within the area of 100 m from the PS) – 12 cases.

PS 10/23 Causeni, Copanca. Posters promoting a candidate are displayed at a distance of about 25 meters from the PS.
PS 18/63, Floresti, Temeleuti. Electoral posters of three candidates are displayed within 100 meters from the PS.
PS 34/33, Telenesti, Pistruieni. The posters of three candidates are displayed at a distance of about 35-40 meters from the PS.
PS 11/30 Cimislia, Ivanovca Nouă. There is an information panel displaying posters of four candidates at the entry of the PS.
PS 29/30 Soroca, Dubna. Election posters of all election contenders are displayed at about 10 meters of the PS, on the fence of the Palace of Culture.
PS 18/32 Floresti, Gura Camencii. Posters promoting two candidates are displayed at about 30 meters of the PS.
PS 18/012, Floresti, Bahrinești. A4 folded leaflets of two candidates are displayed at about 50-60m from the PS. PEB chairperson is not aware about their existence.
PS 36/16, ATUG, Ceadîr-Lunga. Two banners in favour of some candidates are displayed in front of the PS.
PS 29/30 Soroca, Dubna. In the proximity of the PS electoral billboards in favour of all candidates are displayed.
PS 27/32 Riscani, Petruseni. Printed materials promoting a candidate are displayed at a distance of about 70 meters from the PS.
PS 27/22 Riscani, Galaseni. Printed materials promoting a candidate are displayed at a distance of about 20 meters from the PS.
PS 25/34 Orhei, Ghetlova. On a pole at about 60 meters from the PS a leaflet in support of a candidate is displayed.

Electioneering or black PR within the radius of 100 m and/or near the polling station to influence the voters – 7 cases.

PS 2/42 Balti, Balti. At 9:03 a.m., after he made his choice in the ballot paper, a voter urged other voters to vote for a particular candidate. Although the PEB Chairperson reprimanded him, the voter continued to urge people to vote for that candidate on his way out of the PS.
PS 2/58 Balti, Balti. At 8:52 a.m. four women who were standing at the PS entrance urged a young voter to vote for a particular candidate. Two of them continued electioneering at the bus stop just 15-20 meters away from the PS.
PS 1/51 Chisinau, Botanica. An elderly voter asked PEB members how come a particular politician was not on the ballot paper and about how she could vote particularly for him. The PEB members informed her about the candidate supported by the candidate she was looking for, making certain allegations out loud, such as ‘although he stole, he also did something’, electioneering, this way, in favour of that candidate. At last, the voter agreed to go to the voting booth and cast her vote.
PS 32/8 Stefan Voda, Carahasani. A car was seen parked 100 meters away from the PS at 9:30 a.m. There were three people in that car, allegedly supporters of a party, who were greeting and talking to voters. The car remained parked in the vicinity of the PS for 2 hours.
PS 32/10 Stefan Voda, Cioburciu. At 11:24 a.m., a voter broke the secret ballot rule by shouting out loud who he had voted for. He left the PS after having been called on to by the PEB Chairperson.
PS 1/362, Italy, Pesaro Urbino. An A4 sheet of paper was stuck on the PS door with a negative message to a candidate.
PS 1/329, Russian Federation, Moscow. One observer assigned by a candidate was sworn at and verbally assaulted by another observer.

Deficient operation of Elections SAIS (suspended functionalities; situations where Elections SAIS showed that the voter had voted, although the latter claimed he had not) – 16 cases.

PS 14/1 Drochia, Drochia. The operator did not let the voter vote because Elections SAIS showed that the voter had already voted. In his turn, the voter claimed he had not voted, but that he had already been searched in the system in another PS, where he had been referred to this PS. The PEB Chairperson called CEC. The operators of both PSs were required to provide written explanations.
PS 32/28 Stefan Voda, Stefanesti. Internet connection was gone for about 5-7 minutes.
PS 37/33 Transnistrian region, Floresti. The birth date of a voter was inconsistent with his birth date in the Elections SAIS. The PEB Chairperson asked him to go to the PSA to have this inconsistency addressed.
PS 01/092 Chisinau, Buiucani. One voter was not allowed to vote. He was told to go to another PS, according to the Elections SAIS. However, the voter was able to prove on the basis of his identity documents that his address was in the area of this PS. Before this incident, the voter had already gone to vote/check in two other polling stations.
PS 01/137, Chisinau, Center. Elections SAIS showed that the voter who showed up in the PS was supposed to vote in another PS. This voter was told the same in the second PS he went to, having been referred back to the first PS. When the voter showed up for the second time at the first PS, Elections SAIS displayed that he had already voted, although no stamp confirming it had been applied in his ID loose leaf. After a double check, the voter was allowed to cast his vote.
PS 36/9 Gagauzia ATU, Comrat. An internet connection issue occurred at 7:30 a.m., which made it impossible to access Elections SAIS. At 8:05 a.m., the PEB Chairperson decided to let voters in without having to register with the SAIS operators. SAIS resumed operation at 8:20 a.m.
PS 26/31 Rezina, Pripiceni-Razesi. A person who showed up at the PS was told by the SAIS operators that he had already voted and that the could not cast another vote. The voter claimed he hadn’t voted. The PEB Chairperson informed CEC about it, and was told by the latter that an error had occurred. The voter was not allowed to vote in this PS.
PS 1/362, Italy, Pesaro Urbino. Despite stable internet connection, SAIS operators did not have access to Elections SAIS for about 20 minutes at around 10:50 a.m.
PSs 37/32, 37/33, 37/34 and 37/35 transnistrian region, Floresti, Sanatauca. For several voters from the transnistrian region the data in the ID card was inconsistent with the data in the Elections SAIS. Many had expired ID cards or the birth dates were not the same. Voters in such situations were referred to the PSA, where queues formed immediately.
PS 37/6 transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Gura Bicului. The operators were not able to access Elections SAIS on one of the computers. It became possible only after SA ‘Moldtelecom’ staff addressed the situation.
PS 37/25 transnistrian region, Dubasari, Cocieri. The birth date of several voters from the transnistrian region was inconsistent with the one from Elections SAIS. Having consulted with CEC on these matters, the voters concerned were allowed to vote. All these cases were recorded by the PEB members.
PS 1/22 Chisinau, Botanica. The ID scanner didn’t work, so the operators had to introduce the data manually.
PS 18/026, Floresti, Cunicea. Two voters (spouses) who live on the same address, were supposed to vote in two different PSs according to Elections SAIS. The STO reported it was not an one-off case.

Deficiencies in the lists of voters (inconsistent addresses; deceased voters; signatures in the wrong place – for other people) – 13 cases.

PS 37/22 Transnistrian region, Criuleni. One voter placed his signature above another voter’s signature, then made another signature in the right place in line with his name. The PEB Chairperson drew up a protocol on this instance.
PS 37/35 Transnistrian region, Floresti, Sanatauca. In one case, the address of the voter from the ID card was not the same as the address in the SRV. The PEB Chairperson asked the voter to go the PSA, right next to the PS, to have the information corrected first. The voter concerned in this instance managed to cast his vote afterwards.
PS 14/6 Drochia, Drochia. According to the electronic lists of voters in Elections SAIS, voters appeared assigned to a different PS. The voters were able to cast their vote on the basis of additional voter lists.
PS 2/22 Balti, Balti. At 9:14 a.m. a voter found that her son – who had passed away 19 years ago – appeared on the list of voters. When she raised this issue, the PEB Chairperson informed her about the procedure for removing him from the list of voters.
PS 9/41 Calarasi, Tuzara. At 9:50 a.m. a woman who came to exercise her constitutional right was not on the lists of voters. The PEB Chairperson informed her that she was to go to the Mayor’s Office to inquire into why she was not on the list. This voter was neither suggested another way to cast her vote, nor was she referred to another PS on the list of which she could be found. She was not able to vote.
PS 25/011 Orhei, Orhei. Having checked the Elections SAIS, some voters were told by the operators that they were not on the lists of that PS and that they were supposed to vote in the PS they were assigned to. However, the voters claimed that they have always been voting in that particular PS.
PS 18/026 Floresti, Cunicea. Having checked the Elections SAIS, some voters were told by the operators that they were not on the lists of that PS and that they were supposed to vote in the PS they were assigned to. However, the voters claimed that they have always been voting in that particular PS.
PS 21/049 Ialoveni, Vasieni. A person was not on the list and was informed that he/she was supposed to go to another PS.
PS 01/092 Chisinau, Buiucani. Two voters (mother and son) informed the PS staff that the address in the list of voters was incomplete/incorrect compared to the one in their ID cards. Ultimately, they did not vote.
PS 1/51 Chisinau, Botanica. One voter found in the lists of voters the name of his daughter who had passed away several years ago. He also had her certificate of death. The PEB Chairperson informed the voter that he/she could not make changes to the lists of voters and that the man had to raise this issue with the PSA.
PS 01/035 Chisinau, Botanica. One voter informed the PEB members that the name of a deceased person (neighbour) was on the lists of voters.
PS 32/21 Stefan Voda, Popeasca – PEB members found inconsistencies between the Elections SAIS – regarding 89 voters (supposed to vote in this PS) and the lists of voters that only had 87 voters.
PS 1/54 Chisinau, Botanica. One voter found the name of her deceased husband on the lists of voters. The PEB Chairperson asked for the certificate of death, but the voter left saying she was of advanced age and was not going to return that day.

Unjustified group voting (2 or more people were in the voting booth at the same time) – 9 cases

PS 6/17 Briceni, Corjeuti. At 8.35 a.m. a man older than 60, wearing glasses and potentially with vision impairment, came in accompanied by a person. They both entered the voting booth. Shortly after, another voter from the neighbouring booth joined them. There were thus 3 people in the voting booth at the same time. The PEB Chairperson addressed the situation immediately. Only the voter was left in the booth.
PS 16/38 Edinet, Hlinaia. At 9:50 a.m., two persons (relatives) entered the booth together having explained the PEB Chairperson that the voter was visually impaired.
PS 18/026, Floresti, Cunicea. During the time that one voter was exercising his right to vote, an PEB member approached the booth to change the ink pad and had allegedly told the voter who to vote for. The PEB Chairperson made no comments with regards to it.
PS 8/5 Cantemir, Baimaclia. Two persons entered one booth together at 10:50 a.m. None of them appeared to have vision issues. The PEB Chairperson addressed the situation by demanding that one of them leave the booth. One single voter remained in the booth as a result.
PS 16/27 Edinet, Chetrosica Noua. At 9:55 a.m., two aged voters (spouses) entered the booth together. The PEB Chairperson warned them about it, but the voters paid no attention. The wife voted for both of them.
PS 01/029 Chisinau, Botanica. Three voters cast their votes together. They consulted one another about who to vote for. The PEB members urged them several times to separate.
PS 1/105 Chisinau, Buiucani. The elderly wife was allowed to stand next to her elderly husband. However, when the husband was about to vote, she leaned in and told him to put the stamp on the ‘fourth option’. The PEB Chairperson and members called on them but the vote had already been cast.
PS 1/74 Chisinau, Buiucani. An elderly woman entered the booth together with another person, although she had come in the company of another elderly person. The PEB members tried to tackle it and warned them about the inappropriateness of that situation.
PS 1/ 154 Chisinau, Ciocana. At 9:42 a.m., one voter neared another voter who was in the booth and told him to vote for a candidate. The PEB took action on own motion and that person left the polling station.

PS 37/3, Transnistrian region, Anenii Noi. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. The PEB members did not notice the incident.
PS 21/041 Ialoveni, Suruceni. One voter took a selfie in the voting booth. The PEB Chairperson asked him to exit the voting booth. The observer mentioned that several voters who cast their vote in this PS came out of the booth holding the ballot paper so that it showed who they voted for.
PS 01/253, Chisinau, Cricova. A voter made a picture of his ballot paper after having cast his vote. An observer informed the PEB Chairperson about it. The voter deleted the picture upon request to this end.
PS 01/054 Chisinau, Botanica. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper on which he had just expressed his vote and beckoned the observer of a candidate. The PEB members did not manage to do anything about it because the voter hurried to leave the PS.
PS 01/035 Chisinau, Ghidighici. One voter took a picture of his ballot paper. The PEB Chairperson acted on own motion and made the voter delete the picture, which the Chairperson checked it personally.
PS 01/041 Chisinau, Botanica. One voter was taking pictures of the polling station inside, of the observers and PEB members, voters, and also tried to take a picture of his ballot paper. The voter was apprehended by the police.
PS 01/029 Chisinau, Botanica. One voter took a picture of his ballot paper after they cast his vote. The PEB members did not manage to do anything about it because the voter hurried to leave the PS.
PS 11/024, Cimislia, Gura Galbenei. The observer of an election candidate was seen taking pictures of voting booths while the voters were casting their votes.
PS 20/002 Hincesti, Hincesti. A voter took a picture of the ballot paper. The PEB Chairperson demanded that the picture be deleted from the phone.
PS 27/3 Riscani, Riscani. After having expressed his choice on the ballot paper, a voter had demonstratively let it fall into the ballot box while having a picture taken by a person that he had come to the polling station with. Neither the PEB Chairperson, nor other PEB members responded to this situation.
PS 1/ 266 Chisinau, Vadul lui Voda. At 9:25 a.m., a voter approached an observer and asked him – while holding out his ballot paper – whether he voted correctly. It wasn’t clear whether the voter meant the whole voting procedure or the candidate he voted for. Both the observers and the PEB Secretary reprimanded him.
PS 32/3 Stefan Voda, Stefan Voda. The voting booth for people with special needs was placed next to the window which allows others to see who the voter voted for.
PS 25/009 Orhei, Orhei. A voter found a ballot paper in the voting booth. The PEB Chairperson decided to put it in the ballot box.

Unjustified termination/suspension of voting at the polling station – 6 cases.

PS 17/007 Falesti, Albinetul Vechi. The electricity was out from 9:40 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Voting was put on hold throughout the blackout, and the voters were prohibited from entering the PS.
PS 1/37 Chisinau, Botanica. Voting was stalled for 10-12 minutes at around 10 a.m. for a disinfection break. As a result, 12 people had to wait for the PS to resume its work.
PS 1/58 Chisinau, Botanica. Voting was stalled for about 15 minutes at around 10 a.m. for a disinfection break.
SV 1/353 Germany, Kassel. At around 8 a.m., the PS Chairperson was informed by the local authorities that the PS was to be shut down because of the long queue outside of it. The solution was to let in 3 people at a time.
PS 35/72 Ungheni, Valea Mare. At 12:05 p.m., an ECC representative showed up at the PS to unseal the backup ballot box that had two seals and to add another seal to a box that already had three seals. Voting was suspended through out this activity. A protocol was developed with regards to this matter subsequently. Voting had been paused for about 6 minutes.
PS 1/30 Chisinau, Botanica. Voting was stalled for about 10 minutes for a disinfection break.

Restricting the observers’ access or preventing the free observation process at the polling station – 1 case.

SV 16/3 Edinet, Edinet. The Promo-LEX observer had been kept by the PEB Chairperson outside the PS because he allegedly had a temperature of 37 °C. Having been taken the temperature several times, the observer was allowed inside the PS when the thermometer showed 36 °C.

Failure to observe COVID-19 protection and prevention measures – 25 cases.

PS 37/39 Transnistrian region, Rezina. The voters from the Transnistrian region formed queues at the PS. They did not observe the COVID-19 protection measures. The crowed spread out when the police turned up.
PS 28/4, Singerei, Singerei. Two people who had temperatures higher than 37 °C were allowed into the PS at 8:46 a.m. and 9:06 a.m. respectively. These voters were not suggested the alternative of voting at home. The PEB Chairperson did not get involved.
PS 32/15 Stefan Voda, Festelita. A voter who presented with fever showed up at 9:45 a.m. The PEB allowed him to vote provided that no other voter was allowed in during that time.
PS 32/15 Stefan Voda, Festelita. A voter who presented with fever showed up at 10:20 a.m. The PEB allowed him to vote provided that no other voter was allowed in during that time.
PS 18/001 Floresti, Floresti. Social distance was not observed and more voters were allowed in at the same time.
PS 18/039 Floresti, Izvoare. At 7:08 a.m., the PS operators allowed in a voter who did not wear a mask. The PEB Chairperson was not in the PS. None of the PEB members offered the voter a mask.
PS 01/194, Chisinau, Riscani. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (5 voters, 4 voting booths). The PEB Chairperson explained that approach had been applied to avoid people queueing up outside the PS. Social distance was observed though.
PS 01/292, Chisinau, Stauceni. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS. One PEB member forewarned the person in charge of monitoring access about it. Shortly after, the situation resolved.
PS 01/203, Chisinau, Riscani. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (6 voters, 3 voting booths). PEB members did nothing, the situation resolved itself.
PS 01/242, Chisinau, Riscani. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (8-10 voters, 3 voting booths), including social distancing not being respected. PEB members warned the voters, however, they did not comply with the requests.
PS 10/31 Causeni, Grigorievca. Voters queued up, without complying with personal protection rules. At the same time, more voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS.
PS 18/15 Floresti, Ciripcauti. PEB members do not comply with COVID-19 protection rules – do not wear masks/wear them incorrectly, cases of not wearing a face shield. It was not possible to take temperatures correctly due to the malfunctioning thermometer (it was changed for another) and social distancing not being respected.
PS 1/405, Netherlands, The Hague. At arrival, no temperature was taken as a PS preparatory procedure.
PS 18/32 Floresti, Gura Camencii. Failure to ensure social distancing inside PS between PEB members, and the accredited observers.
PS 01/203, Chisinau, Riscani. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (6 voters, 3 voting booths). PEB members did nothing, the situation resolved itself.
PS 01/242, Chisinau, Riscani. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (8-10 voters, 3 voting booths), including social distancing not being respected. PEB members warned the voters, however, they did not comply with the requests.
PS 01/197, Chisinau, Riscani. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (there are always 5 voters, 2 voting booths though).
PS 01/194, Chisinau, Riscani. More voters than the number of voting booths were allowed inside the PS (6 voters, 4 voting booths).
PS 32/33 Stefan Voda, Volintiri. During the election day, the PEB chairperson allowed inside the PS 9 elderly persons, without them wearing protective masks.
PS 33/7 Taraclia, Tvardita. At 10:37 a.m., about 6 voters without a protection mask were allowed inside the PS.
PS 1/213 Chisinau, Rascani. Multiple cases when the number of voters in the polling station was higher than the number of voting booths. At 9:30 a.m., there were 7 voters inside the polling station with 4 voting booths. The PEB Chairperson did not do anything about it.
PS 32/3 Stefan Voda, Stefan Voda. At 11:05 a.m. more than 6 voters were allowed inside the polling station with only 4 voting booths.
PS 1/183 Chisinau, Ciocana. Two voters refused their temperatures to be taken and at the request to keep their social distance, they refused too, and in the end they refused to vote.
PS 18/64 Floresti, Tirgul Vertiujeni. Inside the PS, which is equipped with 2 voting booths, there were 5 voters at the same time.
PS 12/27, Criuleni, Magdacesti. The voters in the queue at the entrance of the PS do not keep the social distance.

Ballot boxes were not sealed according to the legal procedures/tearing/damage or absence of seals on ballot boxes — 8 cases.

PS 30/42, Straseni, Sireti. The stationary ballot box was sealed with only 2 seals.
PS 33/9 Taraclia, Tvardita. One of the stationary ballot boxes was not sealed.
PS 33/28 Taraclia, Valea Perjei. One of two stationary ballot boxes was not sealed.
PS 6/9 Briceni, Berlinti. The stationary ballot box was sealed with 3 seals only. PEB Chairperson PEB argued that they do it all the time.
PS 29/30 Soroca, Dubna. One of the stationary ballot boxes has 2 seals only.
PS 1/443, Denmark, Copenhagen. As the ballot box offered to the PS is different from the ones used in the Republic of Moldova, only two seals could be applied.
PS 1/325, Russian Federation, Moscow. As the ballot box is not typical of those used by CEC in the Republic of Moldova, it was sealed using a sealing wax.
PS 32/19 Stefan Voda, Olanesti. The mobile ballot box is not sealed. PEB members justified this situation with the fact that there were not registered any people willing to vote from home.

Interrupted video recording of electoral procedures for polling station opening or procedures of ballot papers counting – 4 cases.

PS 1/383, Italian Republic, Bergamo. As it was not possible to connect the video camera, the preparation procedures were not recorded.
PS 01/092 Chisinau, Buiucani. The recording of the preparation for polling station opening started at 6.50 a.m., when all actions were already performed. The video camera remained on after the opening of the polling station. The PEB chairperson was informed, but no measures were taken.
PS 1/329, Russian Federation, Moscow. As it was not possible to connect the video camera, the PS preparation was recorded with a phone.
PS 27/7 Riscani, Costesti. Video camera keeps working during the day.

Other – 10 cases

Chisinau municipality – Individuals, introducing themselves as activists of a certain party, call voters and ask them if they have already voted. When asked where they got the phone number, the individual who is calling says the lists are provided by the party.
PS 1/377, Italy, Treviso. A ballot paper with a cast vote was found on the floor of the PS. The PEB chairperson collected the ballot paper in order to annul it. It was not possible to identify the voter who lost the ballot paper.
PSs 37/20 and 37/21, transnistrian region, Causeni, Hagimus In the surrounding area of the PS there were no indicators that could help voters to find its geographical location.
PS 37/6 transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Gura Bicului. At 10:45 a.m., the residents of Gura Bicului village protested against organising a PS for voters from the transnistrian region in their community.
PS 10/4 Causeni, Grigorievca t. At 9.35 a.m. a voter placed the ballot paper in the ballot box without filling it in. The observers noted that and informed the PEB chairperson. The latter called immediately the voter who went out of the PS. The voter was given another ballot paper, in compliance with all the procedures.
PS 37/13 transnistrian region, Causeni. At 08:42 a.m., a voter came to the PS with his own and his wife’s identity cards and requested to vote on her behalf. After he was given a negative answer, he asked how much he would be paid if he voted. After telling him that there is no reward for voting, PEB members collected the voter’s identity data and asked him where he got such information from. The voter told that he saw on TV that he could get 20 Euro if he voted for a candidate. The individual refused ‘to vote for free’ and went to another PS from the same building.
Transnistrian region, Rezina. At 07:32 a.m., a group of citizens intended to block the access to the bridge in order to not allow citizens on the left bank of the Nistru river to vote.
Transnistrian region, Floresti. At 08:37 a.m., in the proximity of the control point in Sanatauca v., a group of supporters of a candidate blocked the access of a car with transnitrean registration numbers. After the police intervened, the respective group allowed the mentioned car to pass.
PS 01/082, Chisinau, Buiucani. A voter asked for another ballot paper given that he made a note with his pen instead of applying the stamp on his first ballot paper. PEB members refused to provide him another ballot paper. The voter submitted a complaint.
PS 17/046, Floresti, Obreja Veche. From 10:15 a.m. to 11:55 a.m. the electricity went out. The voting process was not interrupted.

If there are any discrepancies between the text in Romanian and its translation, the provisions formulated in Romanian shall prevail.

For more information, please contact: Inga Stegarescu, Press Officer of Promo-LEX Association GSM: 069 26 96 84; E-mail: [email protected]

Promo-LEX Election Observation Mission for the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020 | Polling Stations Opening

1 November 2020
Time: 9.00 am

Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020 informs that as of 9.00 am the Mission had received 63 incident reports from observers, and this press release contain information on the 35 incidents processed by the central team of Promo-LEX Mission as of this hour:

Polling stations opening:

Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020 finds,

Restricting the observers’ access or preventing the free observation process at the polling station – 1 case.

PS 36/7 Gagauzia, Comrat. Promo-LEX observer was denied access into the PS until 6:55 am. The observer arrived at the PS at 6:40 am, and the PEB Chairperson argued that observers had to be present at 6:30 am.

Presence of advertising materials, electoral billboards and posters in the vicinity of the polling station (within the area of 100 m from the PS) – 6 cases.

PS 7/6, Cahul, Valeni. Advertising materials favouring two candidates were found on the ads panels within the area of 100 m from the PS. PEB Chairperson told Promo-LEX STOs that he had not noticed them. They have been removed.
PS 01/266, Chisinau, Vadul lui Voda. The electoral poster of a candidate is displayed at a distance of about 20 meters from the PS. The PEB Chairperson was informed and he told that he would take measures to address it.
PS 13/001, Donduseni, Donduseni. A candidate’s electoral posters in A4 form are displayed within 100 meters from the PS.
PS 16/2, Edinet. The office of a candidate is located in front of the PS, at a distance of about 70 meters, and three banners with the candidate are displayed on the office gate. The PEB Chairperson was informed about this, but he did not react.
PS 36/4, ATUG, Comrat. The banner of a candidate is displayed at a distance of about 70 meters from the PS.
PS 18/54, Floresti, Radulenii Vechi. The banner of a candidate is displayed at a distance of about 50 meters from the PS.

Ballot boxes were not sealed according to the legal procedures/tearing/damage or absence of seals on ballot boxes — 5 cases.

PS 01/221, Chisinau, Riscani. At 06.55 am, stationary ballot boxes were sealed with only 2 seals each. PEB Chairperson stated that all of the received seals had been used, and that he did not have other available.
PS 35/72 Ungheni, Valea Mare. One stationary ballot box was sealed with 3 seals, one stationary ballot box was sealed with 2 seals. PEB Chairperson explained that this was the number of seals that he had received.
PS 28/52, Singerei, Pepeni. The ballot box was sealed with 2 seals only. When asked by the observer, the PEB Chairperson replied that he has three ballot boxes and did not have enough seals for each.
PS 1/329, Russian Federation, Moscow area. As the ballot box had only two places to apply the seals, only two seals were used.
PS 1/416, Romania, Sibiu. As the ballot box offered to the PS is different from the ones used in the Republic of Moldova, only one seal could be applied, on the door on the top of the box.

Interrupted video recording of electoral procedures for polling station opening or procedures of ballot papers counting – 6 cases.

PS 27/37 Riscani, Racaria. Camera turned on at 7.03 am.
PS 27/25 Riscani, Hiliuti. Camera turned on at 6.59 am for a couple of seconds only, to say that the polling station was opened.
PS 25/045 Orhei, Malaiesti. The video camera was not turned on to shoot the PS opening.
PS 25/040 Orhei, Furceni. The shooting got interrupted while video monitoring the PS opening procedures, due to some technical errors. The electricity block it was connected to was out of order. The PEB Chairperson looked for another block and is trying to remedy the situation.
PS 1/415, Romania, Suceava. The electoral office did not have a cable to connect the video camera, that is why the PS preparation was shot with a mobile phone.
PS 18/9, Floresti, Alexeevca. The video camera was turned on after PEB members sealed the ballot box.

Restricting the free access to polling station for voters with symptoms of acute respiratory disease (body temperature above 37 Celsius degrees, coughing, breathing difficulties, etc.) – 1 case.

PS 2/45, Balti, Balti town. A voter aged about 58-60 years came to the PS at around 8:35 am with body temperature of 37.4. PEB member did not allow her to enter the polling station. Shortly after, the PEB Chairperson informed her that she had the right to enter and vote. But the voter refused and left.

Organised voter transportation (by buses, passenger vans or other vehicles that wouldn’t normally be around) – 1 cases.

PS 7/6, Cahul, Valeni. At 8.40 am, a white passenger van with registration number BZJ 278 stopped at a distance of about 50 m from the PS and about 15 persons got off. The passenger van had neither a note saying it was transporting passengers, not any sign of public transportation, nor yellow registration plates.

Deficient operation of SAIS “Elections” (suspended functionalities; situations when SAIS “Elections” states that the voted had voted, but the latter claims he had not) – 4 cases.

PS 01/078, Chisinau, Buiucani. SAIS “Elections” had some technical deficiencies and it was out of order from 07.08 am to 07.39 am.
PS 01/223, Chisinau, Riscani. One of the two computers of the polling station could not be connected to SAIS “Elections”. At 07.40 am, PEB Chairperson called for Moldtelecom specialists, but the problem has not been solved yet.
PS 01/125, Chisinau, Center. SAIS “Elections” was out of order from 7.00 am to 7.30 am. PEB Chairperson called for IT experts and the problem was solved.
PS 1/339, Russian Federation, Surgut Hanti-Mansiisk. In spite of the presence of SAIS “Elections” operators and functional technical devices (computers), SAIS “Elections” had been out of order until 7:52 am (Russian Federation time).

Deficiencies in lists of voters (gaps between addresses; deceased voters; signatures instead of other people) – 1 case.

PS 01/092, Chisinau, Buiucani. A voter who has recently changed the residence was not on the main list of voters. The voter was not allowed to vote on additional list, though he presented his ID card which confirmed his domicile within the area of the respective polling station.

Taking pictures of the ballot papers, other violations of the secret of vote (submitting the ID card with the vote on it, inappropriate location of voting booths so that voter’s option can be seen etc.) – 1 case.

PS 01/223, Chisinau, Riscani. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. This was noticed by PEB Chairperson and members. When asked for explanations, the voter said he had to answer a phone call at that very moment. PEB Chairperson said he would document that case.

Infringement by the electoral officials of COVID-19 protection and prevention measures – 4 case.

PS 18/026, Floresti, Cunicea. The list with temperature measurements was prepared after PS opening, at 8:40. PEB Chairperson filled in the listed, without taking the temperature of PEB members.
PS 18/23, Floresti, Cuhureștii de Sus. Failure to ensure the social distance between PEB members, and the PEB Chairperson does not wear a face mask. In addition, the observer’s body temperature was not measured when he arrived to the PS. The PS was opened at 06.55 am.
PS 18/9, Floresti, Alexeevca. PEB members did not have face shields and did not wear correctly face masks.
PS 18/54, Floresti, Radulenii Vechi. The thermometer was not operating correctly. When asked by observers, PEB members chanced the thermometer.

Other – 5 cases

PS 4/14, Anenii Noi, Todirești. The electricity went out. Half of the village is out of electricity. PEB Chairperson has reported the situation, it has not been solved yet.
PS 32/21 Stefan Voda, Popeasca. The PS opening protocol states 3 voting booths, but in reality there are only 2 voting booths.
PS 18/002, Floresti, Floresti. Before PS opening, 2699 voters were declared to be on the main lists of voters. After PS opening, PEB Chairperson stated she had been phoned by CEC representatives, asking to remove 19 voters who had been issued voting right certificates.
PS 37/3, Transnistrian region, Anenii Noi. At 08:07 am, a voter made a note with his pen on the ballot paper and that is why he asked for another ballot paper. But PEB members refused to give him another ballot paper, hence the voter applied the “Voted” seal on the ballot paper with the notes made by pen. After this case, the PEB Chairperson explained to PEB members that they were obliged to give another ballot paper, if requested by voter.
PS 01/092, Chisinau, Buiucani. The polling station opening protocol was drafter with a delay, at 7.11 am. Three voters had already voted by than.

The press release is developed as part of the Observation Mission for the Elections of the President of the Republic of Moldova on 1 November 2020 is conducted by Promo-LEX Association with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) via the ‘Democracy, Transparency and Accountability’ Program, the Good Governance Department of Soros Foundation-Moldova under ‘Monitoring the Presidential Elections of 1 November 2020’ Project, and the Council of Europe under ‘Support for civic observation of 2020 Presidential Election in polling stations abroad’. ‘Hate speech’ component is supported by Justice and Human Rights Department of Soros Foundation-Moldova under ‘Consolidation of a platform for the development of activism and education in the area of human rights in Moldova – stage IV’ Project.

If there are any discrepancies between the text in Romanian and its translation, the provisions formulated in Romanian shall prevail.

For more details, please contact:

Inga Stegarescu, Communication Officer of Promo-LEX Observation Mission for the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020: GSM 069269684,

e-mail: [email protected]