The election runners use administrative resources when campaigning and the campaign is financed with violations, the Observation Mission of Promo-LEX Association says in its second monitoring report centering on the May 20 new local elections, IPN reports.
The Observation Mission established that a number of electoral contenders omitted the full reporting of campaign expenses. The non-reported amount was estimated at minimum 672,000 lei. Independent candidate Silvia Radu either didn’t submit the financial report by the April 30 deadline or the report wasn’t made public by the Chisinau District Electoral Council before the publication of the Mission’s second report.
The observers identified a transfer of 955,900 lei from the current account of the Party of Socialists to the party’s account “Electoral Fund”, reported as a donation from a legal entity. Under the law, the donated sum cannot exceed 615,000 lei. The Observation Mission also ascertained the spending of 114,000 lei by the Shor Party in Jora de Mijloc commune of Orhei district at a time when the ceiling for a commune is 93,500 lei.
The observers of Promo-LEX reported at least 25 situations that can be described as use of administrative resources. Meetings with voters were organized inside kindergartens, medical institutions and state enterprises during working hours. Another case of use of administrative resources was the involvement of President Igor Dodon in agitation for the Party of Socialists’ candidate for mayor Ion Ceban. This can be also described as electoral campaigning with the use of the image of public authorities.
There were also cases when electoral competitors became the targets of messages that incited hatred and discrimination. Among these were Andrei Nastase, Valeriu Munteanu, Ion Ceban and Silvia Radu. At the same time, Valeriu Munteanu in two cases used hate speech and messages that promoted stereotypes related to age.
The report covers the period between April 18 and May 1. The finances of election runners were monitored during April 13 – 27.
