The legal framework has a sound legal basis for holding democratic elections. However, the provisions in the Electoral Code vaguely regulate procedures for the second round of elections, and leave important aspects unaddressed and others open to subjective interpretations and inconsistencies in the application of the law, the Election Observation Mission of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) says in its Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions.

In a news conference at IPN, the Mission’s Deputy Head Dritan Taulla said observers, who monitored both rounds of the presidential elections, will present all the findings in a final report that will be published within 60 days from Election Day. Also, the observers will monitor the filing and examination of complaints following the presidential runoff, will report the identified shortcomings and will formulate suggestions for removing these.

The runoff elections on November 13 were generally well organized and conducted in an orderly manner, following the main procedures. However, in some polling stations, the precinct electoral bureaus ran out of ballot papers since the voters’ participation exceeded the maximum number of ballots available.

Cases of serious violations of fundamental rights – breach of secrecy to vote, intimidation, violation of the inherent dignity and worth of the human person that hindered full and effective exercise of their right to vote - were observed in the polling stations in psychiatric hospitals and prisons.

Shortcomings were noted in the election dispute resolution process both in the Central Election Commission, which postponed adjudication of the complaints after the 2nd round in contradiction to the Electoral Code, and the law enforcement bodies to identify, investigate and prosecute the instances of election related violations and crimes. ENEMO said strong media partisanship and biased coverage of the electoral campaign continued between the two rounds of elections.

ENEMO’s International Election Observation Mission for the Presidential Elections of 30 October 2016 in Moldova is financially supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, within the Accountability Fund Program; and the Black Sea Trust, a Project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.