The elections in Moldova are freer compared with the situation of 2010, but they are less fair now, the project’s permanent expert Igor Botan, who is the executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT), said in the debate “Society’s control leverage on the government before, during and after elections: traditions, local practices and European standards”, which is the 35th of the series of debates “Development of political culture in public debates”, staged by IPN News Agency and Radio Moldova.
“In Moldova, the elections were always considered free and practically always partially fair. The government always fulfilled its commitment to ensure free elections. I do not doubt that the elections will be free and are free. The electoral process in Moldova is free. This means that no election runner and no person meet with impediments in exerting the right to vote and to be voted. There are no problems in this respect in Moldova,” stated Igor Botan.
He underlined the high quality of the electoral legislation and of the electoral body of Moldova. “The state has a specialized institution and I want to note that Moldova’s Central Election Commission is very professional. Those who form part of this Commission may have political preferences, but this is not tragic as the ballot is cast in polling places and Moldova’s legislation ensures maximum transparency for all those who want to vote, from the opening of the polling places up to their closing and the transmission of the voting results further,” said the ADEPT director.
According to Igor Botan, the correctness of the elections is not at the appropriate level yet owing mainly to the mass media. “There are always problems related to the fairness of elections. Fair elections mean that everyone is put in absolutely equal conditions and there are problems here. How do the mass media work in Moldova? Are they monopolized or not? The biggest problems appear here and they haven’t been yet solved. Who are the owners of the media outlets? There are many subtle things that do not directly depend on the government. They generally depend on the political class, which should deal with these problems. The elections in Moldova are distorted by brainwashing and inappropriate use of the mass media instruments,” he explained.
The November 19 debate is the 35th of the series of debates “Development of political culture in public debates”. IPN holds such debates the third year with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation and in cooperation with Radio Moldova.
