About 9% of Moldovans could not vote, Promo-LEX

The Transnistrians eligible to vote, who make up over 9% of the voters, were intimidated and disfavored in the July 29 elections, shows the final monitoring report of Promo-LEX Association presented on August 25. According to the report, only 5,000 of the 223,000 Moldovans in Transnistria could exercise their right to vote, Info-Prim Neo reports. ”About 9% of the Moldovan voters living on the left bank of the Nistru were isolated from the electoral process, being intimidated, threatened and discriminated. The electoral contenders avoided campaigning there, while the electoral rolls contained many mistakes,” said the Promo-LEX director Ion Manole. According to him, the elections in the Transnistrian region were conducted with deviations from the European democratic norms. The atmosphere was tense, the voting conditions unequal, while the electoral bodies, electoral officials and runners violated or interpreted the procedures. Promo-LEX ascertained that the electoral registers were drawn up, checked, used and kept with violations and this affected the credibility of the electoral process. Even if the elections were held on a workday, the turnout at national level was high. But the voters in Transnistria were disfavored as they did not benefit from a free day. According to the executive director of Promo-LEX Alexandru Postica, the selective accreditation of the representatives of international election observation missions and the systematic harassment of international monitors by the authorities, especially through the Ministry of the Interior, were among others deviations from the international commitments. On the election day, the Promo-LEX observers identified such violations as the presence of election posters, absence of persons working abroad in the lists, use of public resources for electoral purposes, etc. The monitoring report covers the period between June 16 and July 29. The Association monitored the electoral process in the Transnistrian region and the neighboring districts: Floresti, Rezina, Dubasari, Anenii Noi, Causeni and Stefan Voda. There were monitored 249 of the 1,987 polling places where over 530,000 people or 20% of the voters could cats their ballots.