Expert Igor Boțan said he has a constantly positive attitude to the Central Election Commission (CEC), which is a professional institution, even if there were exceptions in the period of state capture. According to him, the development partners invested a lot in the institutionalization of this institution. The expert developed the issue in IPN’s public debate “Does legal framework guarantee free and fair elections? Who guarantees correct implementation of legal framework?”
According to Igor Boțan, the CEC in time had periods when it acted not very clearly. “There was the ECHR decision on an electoral competitor involved in the elections of 2014 and very delicate situations involving the Communist Reformist Party, which attracted 5% of the voters of the Communist Party, followed. The exclusion of this party from the race was then rejected, but this was liquidated after the elections,” said the standing expert of IPN’s project.
The events that happened after 2014, which questioned the electoral democracy in Moldova, can be added here. After the elections of October 2019, things retuned to normality, but this does not mean that “strange things” cannot happen. Therefore, the national and international observers should be very attentive.
Igor Boțan noted a problem related to the appointment of the CEC members has persisted since 2005. There is now no suitable formula for naming them so as to be sure that they do not have political tails.
In another development, the expert said the citizens have rights and the institutions and authorities have obligations. When the citizens claim rights, they activate the whole machinery. “The best example was provided by the two candidates for President (Octavian Țîcu and Dorin Chirtoacă), who weren’t registered by the CEC initially, but they insisted and were ultimately registered. It’s a pity that the electoral contenders weren’t as active in 2019, when Ruslan Codreanu faced the same problem. What happened to Ruslan Condreanu could have happened to the two candidates. Not only the CEC can be blamed for not being attentive. The position of society is also important. When you demand rights, you make those from the CEC to change their stance,” he stated.
The public debate “Does legal framework guarantee free and fair elections? Who guarantees correct implementation of legal framework?” was the 155th installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
