The outgoing chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Iurie Ciocan, who was recently chosen as a member of the Commission against, considers it is as noxious to distribute the CEC either to the opposition or the power. In an interview for Radio Free Europe, he said that these situations seem equal to him because they mean political distribution of an apolitical body, which is not correct in principle, IPN reports.
Asked if the current configuration of the CEC is a political one, Iurie Ciocan said it is political, but it is accepted at international level. “If you look at the experience of other states where Central Election Commissions exist as separate institutions, you can see that these are almost everywhere formed based on party representation criteria and this instrument is accepted by the Council of Europe,” he stated.
The CEC chairman said he is firmly convinced that transparency is the main weapon of an electoral body. They have always worked transparently on the CEC so far. “All the meetings and debates, either pleasant or unpleasant, were available online and we never tried to hush up particular deficiencies. We discussed them all in public and explained them as they were,” said Iurie Ciocan.
He noted that during his carrier in the electoral bodies, the power was changed thrice and this shows that Moldova is an electoral democracy where the power is replaced as a result of elections. While working on the CEC, neither he nor his colleagues fulfilled political orders.
Asked if the negotiations before his appointment as CEC member for a new term were difficult, Iurie Ciocan said these weren’t. “I was offered to continue and to transfer the experience gained as a member of the Central Election Commission to the new colleagues. I accepted, but I noted from the start that I cannot hold the post forever,” he stated.
Iurie Ciocan was elected chairman of the CEC in February 2011, when he held the post of secretary of the Commission. The terms in office of the previous CEC members expired this February and a new composition was chosen recently. Initially, Iurie Ciocan wasn’t among the candidates proposed by Parliament. He was fielded by the parliamentary alliance after Marcel Raducanu withdrew his candidacy.
