Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections has permanent statute

{The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, which has promoted the holding of fair elections during three electoral years, decided to make its statute permanent. The Coalition’s secretary Nicolae Panfil provides more details about the continuous work of the organization in an interview given to Info-Prim Neo.} [ - Why did you have to change the regulations of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Coalition 2009”?] - The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections was founded in 2005 to promote the holding of democratic, free and fair elections. Afterward, the Coalition participated in the monitoring of the electoral campaign for the 2007 local elections. In 2009, after two very tough and difficult election campaigns marked by deep social tensions and violations of human rights and democratic principles, we hope that we proved we are able to contribute to the promotion of free and fair elections in Moldova. We also learned useful lessons for our further work. We learned that it is not enough to promote the holding of free and fair elections only during election campaigns. We must permanently get involved in electoral processes, contribute to their improvement, constantly demand that the broadcasters observe the electoral legislation, carry our civil and electoral education activities, etc. Therefore, during a self-assessment seminar, the members of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections decided to make the Coalition’s statute permanent so that the activities carried out during election campaigns be also performed in the period between the elections. Thus, the decision to modify the regulations of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections shows the members’ wish to make the work of the Coalition permanent and comes to adjust the internal activity rules so that we could permanently promote free and fair elections in Moldova. [ - What will change at the practical level?] -As the Coalition will work on a permanent basis, we decided to remove "Coalition 2009” from its name as it shows the electoral year. As I mentioned earlier, the modification of the Coalition’s regulations results from the lessons we learned. At the practical level, we decided to more actively engage the member organizations, especially those from regions, in the Coalition’s activities, including by continuing the work of the Secretariat’s Zonal Offices and creating working groups within the Coalition. The number of members of the Coalition’s Board will be raised from 7 to 9. There were also made other changes aimed at ensuring the good functioning of the Coalition and its communication with the foreign players with which it cooperates. [ - Did the Coalition’s composition remain unchanged?] - The composition of the Coalition has not been and cannot be affected by the modifications made to the regulations. Currently, the Coalition brings together more than 70 public organizations and is in continuation open to new members that want to promote the same values and principles. The changes to the internal structure of the Coalition will also contribute to the improvement of our work. By increasing the number of members of the Coalition’s Board, we hope to tackle more of the problems concerning the electoral processes identified during this year’s election campaigns and take steps to remove them. This will also motivate the member organizations to be more active so as to prove that they can become part of this Board. Another amendment to the Coalition’s internal structure envisions the creation of working groups as part of which the member organizations will address the problems faced by the Coalition in implementing such projects as monitoring of the electoral processes and the behavior of the mass media, the civic and electoral Eeducation, etc. These programs showed their importance and viability in time and now that the Coalition will work on a permanent basis we pledge to continue them. [ - Is work as part of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections voluntary or paid? If it is paid, from what sources?] - As it is a voluntary union of public associations, the Coalition works only on a voluntary basis. The participation in its meetings and the promotion by its members of activities in the name of the whole Coalition are not paid. However, I must say that the member organizations that want to implement a program or project are allocated financial resources, which are usually provided by foreign donors. We now have a plan of action for the period between the election campaigns and want very much to develop it by devising concrete projects, after the internal organization procedure is finished. We will ask the donors to further support the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections in its activities.