CEC did not fulfill all its duties in election campaign, report

The Central Election Commission (CEC) did not fulfill all its functions in the campaign for the November 28 early legislative elections. This is one of the conclusions of the last pre-electoral report on the monitoring of the campaign for the November 28 early parliamentary elections compiled by “Promo-Lex” Association within the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections. The report says the CEC did not specify the voting methods for certain categories of voters and did not publish information about the electoral lists, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the authors of the report, a large part of the people do not know where they can vote. Many of the polling places are not heated. In a news conference on Friday, “Promo-Lex” head Ion Manole said that even if the CEC allowed the Transnistrians to vote at 21 polling places established on the right bank of the Nistru, which is a larger number compared with the previous elections, the number of ballots is lower. “According to official data, there are more than 223,000 voters in Transnistria, but there were printed only 13,800 ballots for them, as against 14,500 ballots for the April 5, 2009 elections,” said Ion Manole. Seventeen of the 21 polling places are mixed and this is a reason for concern as such places do not meet the criteria stipulated in the electoral legislation. The monitors of “Promo-Lex” established that the number of cases of intimidation of voters by the election runners has increased. There were identified more cases of forced involvement in the campaign. The representatives of the local authorities continued to use administrative resources in favor of the election contenders. The methods of influencing the voters have diversified. “The election runners continue to distribute electoral presents to the voters. Besides seeds and lanterns, some of the runners offer tractors and plows, TV sets and presents at weddings,” said Corneliu Cirimpei, coordinator of “Promo-Lex”. The contenders pay increased attention to the Church. They donated valuable icons to churches and campaigned on the days of the settlements. Only 19 of the 39 election contenders have been active. Twenty contenders of the total number were present only at debates. The fourth report of “Promo-Lex” Association covered the period between November 9 and 25 and was produced on the basis of over 700 reports prepared by the 42 long-term observers and 30 observers who were involved in the monitoring process on November 3.