MEP Siegfried Muresan considers the Republic of Moldova needs better voting condition, conditions for transparent party funding and correct access to the mass media for all the candidates. The MEP transmitted such a message to the Moldovan lawmakers who took part in the meeting of the EU – Moldova Parliamentary Association Committee that was held in Strasbourg, France, IPN reports.

Siegfried Muresan, who took part in the European Parliament Observation Mission to the presidential elections in Moldova during October – November this year, said these are the main electoral changes that the Moldovan authorities should make for the mistakes made in the presidential elections not to be repeated in the next elections.

“It is not acceptable for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova who are abroad to be left to queue up in front of polling places because there are not enough ballots. The massive participation by the people from the diaspora was predictable given that the President was elected by direct vote for the first time in the last 15 years,” stated the MEP.

Siegfried Muresan noted that as he anticipated this, before the elections, on October 21, he sent a letter to the Central Election Commission in Chisinau whereby he asked to make public the algorithm according to which polling places are established abroad. “It was clear for me before elections that the polling places were organized in a defective way and this thing was seen during voting,” he stated, noting this algorithm should be specified by law.

The official believes it is not normal for private individuals to be able to donate up to 200 average salaries to parties without needing to justify the source of money. The financing is thus not transparent, while the Moldovan legislation in the current form tolerates and encourages fraud in party funding. That’s why the law should be modified and then applied appropriately so as to ensure transparency in the process of using money in the campaign.

The MEP also said that the candidates’ fair access to the mass media should be ensured. It was seen that the new parties, which gained yet the confidence and support of voters, were clearly disadvantaged because they didn’t benefit from the same access to the press as the old parties that the people no longer trust. The European Parliament will monitor very attentively these three aspects in the immediate period and is ready to offer Moldova all the technical assistance it needs to improve the framework for holding elections.