The electoral process in Moldova was competitive in character. The elections were generally free, even if they were influenced by negative aspects in parts. Such conclusions were reached by experts of the European Platform for Democratic Elections, who supervised the electoral process starting with November 26. The experts are representatives of different organizations from the Eastern Partnership, Russia and other states. In Moldova, they cooperate with the Association “Promo-LEX”.

In a news conference at IPN, Lilia Shibanova, the representative of the Russian Association “Golos”, said the removal of a party from the electoral race two days before the elections was a deviation from the electoral norms and such an act wasn’t sufficiently explained by the competent bodies.

As regards the electoral legislation, Lilia Shibanova said the experts consider it is rather good and allows for the correct conduct of elections. The independent candidates can take part in the elections, but they enjoy yet poorer conditions than the other election runners.

The experts highly appreciated the mechanism for hindering multiple voting, while the attempt to introduce the electronic register of voters, even if it didn’t work most of the times, can be a useful instrument in the electoral process in the future.

Lilia Shibanova noted that there wasn’t enough place in the ballot boxes and the polling places should be thus equipped with a higher number of boxes. A larger number of polling places was also needed in Moscow. The pictures showing a crowd of Moldovans queuing up to vote will be used by the Russian machinery as propaganda. The representative of “Golos” said she knows how the Russian propaganda machinery works and considers that the crush at Moldova’s Embassy in Moscow was staged.

The experts also said that some of the polling places were very small or were located at upper stories and it was hard for the elderly people or persons with special needs to get to them. As to voting in detention places, the experts noted that voting through the mobile ballot box was a long-lasting process and it is better to set up polling places inside penitentiaries.