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Briefness first and foremost – February 20, 2019 IPN digest


https://www.ipn.md/en/briefness-first-and-foremost-february-20-2019-ipn-digest-7978_1047162.html

Igor Boțan, expert in electoral systems, in the public debate “Elections 2019: Post-electoral scenarios in view of experts in political sciences, electoral systems and sociology”, which was the 108th installment staged by IPN News Agency, said the electoral system was modified into a mixed one and this will be applied for the first time in the ninth parliamentary elections of the declaration of independence, being something new for the voters and for the political class. It is well-known what the motivation for the introduction of the new electoral system was – the need for a new political class. “So, we should now expect that after these elections we will have a new political class and we will see to what extent the authors of this electoral system were right when they decided to replace the electoral system. Everyone understands that the mixed electoral system is a compromise between the proportional system and the majority electoral system,” stated Igor Boțan.

The mixed electoral system and the majority one bring politics to the blade of grass and the visions should move to the second place, as the needs of the people in constituencies come to the first place. But it is not clear if we passed the phase when we should work on visions, even if some say that we can switch over to the solving of problems. In general, it seems there are reasons for accepting changes in the electoral system. On the other hand, we see that the people do not really understand how this system works. If we add the intention to introduce the imperative mandate to this modified system, things in general become very vague,” said Igor Boțan.

The hearing in the Shor case that was to take place at the Cahul Appeals Court on February 20 was again put off, at the request of the lawyers for the former president of the Administration Board of Banca de Economii. The defense asked to suspend the hearings for the reason that their client is involved in the election campaign and takes part in a number of events.

In the penultimate week of the electoral campaignhttp://ipn.md/en/politica/96603, some improvements can be seen in the online media coverage compared to previous monitoring periods, shows the latest report of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, the Independent Press Association and the Independent Journalism Center. In particular, some portals that previously favored very clearly certain electoral competitors in the national and single-member constituencies had a more neutral tone during February 9-16 and the bias was not as pronounced as before. However, political preferences remain widespread in news reports. The most frequent offenses are the failure to balance the news, the delivery of unproven allegations as facts, the focus on the candidate’s personal aspects rather than on his or her arguments, and the failure to offer the right of reply to the accused candidates. Even if online journalism must operate fast, experts say integrity standards should not be ignored.

The director of the Resource Center for Human Rights (CREDI) Sergiu Ostaf suggests using statistics methods in electoral processes for identifying eventual electoral frauds. Her explained that a voting anomaly is a rigging risk that is identified and is investigated to determine the causes. A voting anomaly is a deviation from voting behavior. Exemplifying the anomalies that are often witnessed in elections, including in the Republic of Moldova, for which statistical investigation methods should be applied, Sergiu Ostaf mentioned the organized bringing of voters to polling places, voter corruption and vote buying.

The people of science, together with the entire population, are urged to take part in the parliamentary elections in a large number so as not to allow the Socialists to take over. Historian Andrei Groza, first pro-rector of the Public Administration Academy, made such a call, saying the electoral program of the Socialists promotes hatred against Romanians and promises to ban by law everything that is Romanian.

In 2017, the gender pay gap in Moldova was 13.5%, which translates to a difference of 12,133 lei annually. During a press conference to mark the Equal Pay Day, Alina Andronache, PR and advocacy specialist with the CPD, said: “This is a symbolical day that aims to raise public awareness about the existing wage gap between women and men.”

Details on IPN!