Each citizen is responsible and should make effort to root out electoral corruption. The people should not remain indifferent when they witness an act of corruption and should notify the responsible bodies, Cristina Cucurudza, deputy director of the Center for Continuous Electoral Training, stated in a public debate hosted by IPN.

Cristina Cucurudza noted that the vote should be informed and should be able to make a difference, for example, between deliverable electoral promises and manipulative promises that can be classed as corruption.

“The promises should be implementable, anchored and the role in educating the voters is important here as they must understand if these promises can be effectively fulfilled. If we speak about local elections, we must look at them through the angle of the duties of the mayor or the local council. If a candidate says that the social benefit will be raised, one should realize if such a thing is within the remit of the local public authorities or of the central authorities. Respectively, we speak about the informing of voters and about their culture and not only their electoral culture, but also their legal, general culture,” stated the expert.

According to her, education is a difficult, thorny process. The methods for reaching the voters should be individualized, depending on the particularities. The institutions that come in contact with voters, with future voters must promote the idea that any message they receive should be analyzed twice to see on what sources it its based and the voters should inquiry about the state of affairs in the locality and become involved. Participatory democracy does not mean going to the polls once in four years only. It also means becoming involved in public life and in decision making.

Cristina Cucurudza also said it is important to lay emphasis on “electoral integrity” in the process of educating or informing about the prevention of corruption, to explain that electoral integrity in general means incorruptibility. “We speak about the sanctions stipulated by the Electoral Code and about the deeds that are classed as contraventions or offenses. We also speak about the need for the voters not to tolerate behaviors that are classed as contravention or offenses,” she stated.

According to the deputy director of the Center for Continuous Electoral Training, the voters should become involved to a greater extent and should report acts of corruption. In small localities, many of the inhabitants are related somehow, but this does not mean that corrupt behaviors should be tolerated or they will be ultimately treated as something normal.

The public debate entitled “Corruption technology: how and why does it work (or doesn’t) in the Republic of Moldova” was staged by IPN news Agency in the framework of the project “Stimulation of discussion in the mass media about traditional particularities of local elections and the need for Europeanization” which is supported by Soros Foundation Moldova.