Civic Control – 2009 Elections Coalition signals deviations from Electoral Code

The coalition “Civic control –2009 elections,” joined by 15 non-governmental organizations, Tuesday presented its first monitoring report on elections, for February 19-24. The most frequent encroachments deal with publishing electoral materials in media, without the mention “Electoral advertising” or “Discharged from the electoral fund,” but also the fact that some candidates that are top dignitaries have not suspended from their jobs, said Alexandru Barbov, the executive director of the coalition. According to Barbov, quoted by Info-Prim Neo, in the middle of February, two political parties – the Centrist Union from Moldova (UCM) and the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) – electioneered by means of mobile telephony operators. “Most mobile phone users were sent short messages containing electoral texts. For the other participants of the electoral campaign, this step was a reason to remit protests to the Central Election Commission. The CEC addressed an official note to the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Informational Technology through which it warned this institution on the need to observe the Election Code by the mobile telephony operators. First, this refers to the need that these messages should have been attached a mention “2009 Elections” and “Discharged from the electoral fund,” Barbov stated. As to the printed media, the authors of the report named a series of publications in which, besides election columns, materials containing direct and indirect promo have been inserted. Among them: “Timpul,” “Jurnal de Chisinau,” “Moldavskie Vedomosti,” “Kommersant Plus,” “Saptamana,” “Obiectiv” – the supplement issued by the Independent Press Association. Alexandru Barbov stated that some info portals made deviations from the electoral Code. “An electoral material without the mention “2009 Elections” or “Discharged from the electoral fund” was placed on Unimedia portal,” Barbov exemplified. The monitoring report reads that there are 21 candidates in the Communist Party (PCRM) who have not suspended from their positions, 9 – in the Democratic Party (PDM), 6 - in the Liberal Party (PL), 13 – in the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN), 9 - in the Social Democratic Party (PSD), 2 – in the People’s Christian Democratic Party (PPCD). When launching, the coalition committed to raising civic activism, ensuring the check of observing the law and to preventing the encroachments on the voters’ rights. The coalition announced that it would monitor the product of the printed press, the broadcasters’ programs, the way they respect the principle of equidistance in informing voters and promoting the electoral candidates. The coalition has 200 independent supervisors, who will participate in monitoring the electoral process at polling stations on the election day. The project costs 60 thousand lei. It is financed by the member-organizations of the coalition, after getting some separate grants.