The international community will attentively follow the developments in the pre-electoral context and in the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova, said Canada’s Ambassador in Bucharest Kevin Hamilton, who simultaneously serves as Ambassador to Moldova. At the end of a visit paid to Chisinau in connection with the upcoming elections, alongside other ambassadors, the diplomat said that as the partners and friends of the Republic of Moldova, they will be present here to monitor and see what is going on in the period, IPN reports.
The official said he came to the Republic of Moldova together with ambassadors of the EU member states. The visit was made primarily in connection with the pre-electoral context, but also to monitor the elections that will take place in Moldova on February 24. “As regards Canada, we expressed out concern and our wish for these elections to be held in a free and fair manner. We will definitely assign our short-term observers as part of the OSCE Mission, who will oversee and follow the conduct of elections. Besides, we want to be sure that none of the candidates and none of the political parties are harassed or intimidated,” noted Kevin Hamilton.
He stated that in Chisinau, the ambassadors had a number of meetings, including with the representatives of the electoral bloc ACUM Maia Sandu and Andrei Năstase, as they want to make sure that these two candidates are not subject to harassment and intimidation in the way witnessed recently, at the local elections in Chisinau municipality last summer.
Asked by journalists if they will have meetings with other parties, including the Democratic Party and the Party of Socialists, the ambassador said these parties were contacted on different occasions, but the current program and agenda regrettably didn’t enable them to do this now as well.
As to the new, mixed-electoral system based on which the upcoming elections will be held, the official said this is really complex and new and the voters will have to familiarize themselves with it somehow. “In fact, I cannot pronounce on this electoral system as each country has the freedom to decide what electoral system to apply,” stated Ambassador Kevin Hamilton.
