In the mixed elections, the political players remain the main players as regards the fielding and registration of candidates. In single-member constituencies, 73% of the initiative groups were constituted by parties or blocs, while 27% by citizens who aim to run independently. At the same time, only five parties were registered for the national constituency by January 9 and this is a low number compared with the previous elections, says the second report of the parliamentary election observation mission that was presented by “Promo-LEX” Association on January 10, IPN reports.
The monitoring period was December 10 – January 8. In a news conference, “Promo-LEX” programs director Pavel Postica said only six collective applicants – five parties and an electoral bloc – filed applications for being registered as electoral contenders in the national constituency in the monitored period. Four competitors were registered by January 8, namely the Democratic Party, the bloc ACUM, the Party of Communists and the Party of Socialists. The Shor Party was registered on January 9. “At the current stage, we have rather few applications for registration, including in the national constituency, compared with the previous elections,” noted Pavel Postica.
In single-member constituencies, 393 applications to register initiative groups have been submitted by January 8. In 46 single-member constituencies, the number of registered initiative groups of potential candidates varies between four and 11. In five constituencies, there were registered the initiative groups of 11-14 potential candidates. Most of the applications were filed in constituencies abroad, namely Europe, the U.S. and Canada, and in a constituency in Chisinau.
As to gender aspects, Pavel Postica said the gender quota of 40% was respected by the registered election runners, but most of the women were placed after the 20th position on the list. At the same time, none of the registered electoral contenders ensured the gender quota of 40% for the candidates fielded in single-member constituencies.
The observation mission also ascertained that in some of the cases the initiative groups collected the signatures rather swiftly. For example, in the case of the Democratic Party, 87% of the initiative groups managed to collect the signatures during the first two days, while in the case of seven candidates – during one day. The signatures in support of five candidates of the Party of Socialists, one candidate of the Shor Party and independent candidate Nicolae Botgros were also collected during one day. “This is not impossible, from our viewpoint, if the initiative groups are appropriately supported financially and logistically, but this swiftness generates doubts when the signatures are collected during one day in a lot of localities in different districts of the country,” stated Pavel Postica.
Also, given that the Central Election Commission banned the registrars’ access to the State Register of Voters, the observers of “Promo-LEX” didn’t manage to fully monitor the updating of electoral rolls. “Promo-LEX” is surprised at such a ban imposed for the period between December 28, 2018 and January 10, 2019, when the State Register of Voters should be updated systematically, including with the involvement of registrars, given that it is the electoral period.
The next report of the observation mission will be released on January 24, 2019.
