The observation mission of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States said the October 30 presidential elections were free, open and competitive. The conclusions were presented by the secretary general of the Council of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly Alexey Sergeev in a news conference on October 31, IPN reports.

Alexey Sergeev said the 70 observers of the mission managed to reach a higher number of polling places than it was initially planned, which is 267. The observers established that all the polling places were outfitted with the necessary things, but some of the polling places experienced technical problems shortly after the opening. These were yet removed swiftly. The Central Election Commission handled appropriately all the matters that needed intervention and took the necessary legal measures for the elections to be held in a democratic manner.

However, the observation mission identified a series of irregularities that refer to the placing of electoral posters near polling places, attempts to take ballots out of the polling place and giving of two ballots to a person. But all these cases were dealt with promptly and properly.

The mission’s coordinator Akramsho Felaliev said the technical faults didn’t affect the voting process, while the electoral authorities showed a high level of training. This enabled an essential number of people to cast their ballots. Today, the observation mission starts to monitor the election campaign that will precede the runoff elections.

Alexander Kineov, a member of the Central Election Commission of Russia, said the electoral process was interesting, given that the citizens of the Republic of Moldova chose their President after a period of 20 years. The elections were well organized and were held in a democratic and legal manner. The Russian Federation should learn from Moldova’s experience in implementing the electronic vote count system that enables to swiftly tabulate the results. The observers talked to a number of voters, who told him they came to vote because they realize the importance of their vote, not out of inertia.

The observation mission of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States will also monitor the election campaign prior to the runoff elections.