The polling on 30 October 2016 was conducted orderly and in a transparent manner, generally in compliance with the international standards. Procedural irregularities observed, in limited scope or of isolated instances, did not have negative impact on the election process, as they resulted from lack of clear instructions, or negligent attitude of the members of the precinct electoral bureaus, the Election Observation Mission (EOM) of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) says in its statement of preliminary findings and conclusions.
In a news conference at IPN, Head of Mission Peter Novotny said the elections were monitored by a core team of six experts and ten teams of short-term observers (STOs). On Election Day, ENEMO EOM deployed ten STO teams covering opening of polling stations, process of casting the ballots, environment around polling stations, closing of polling stations, vote count, as well as transfer and intake of the materials and tabulation at DECs, to assess compliance with national legislation and international standards.
According to Peter Novotny, the elections took place in an overall political context characterized by lack of trust in the institutions and political establishment. However, Moldovan citizens headed for the polls on Sunday to elect among nine candidates, marking a turnout of over 49% and showing their willingness to participate in the political life of the country. “The voters were presented with a wide choice of candidates, however the legal framework for elections requires to be revised, taking into account international standards, in order to provide equal playing field for all candidates, especially for inclusion of independent ones,” said the Head of Mission.
Peter Novotny noted the election process was administered in a transparent and open manner. The majority of members of district electoral councils and precinct electoral bureaus were professionally trained prior to elections by the Central Election Commission based training center.
According to the observers, the electronic voter verification system served as a very effective measure in preventing multiple voting, while it also enabled transmission of real time information from the polling stations to the CEC and to the public. In some polling stations ENEMO observers noticed technical problems in its functioning, problems that were promptly resolved and that did not affect the voting process significantly.
Deputy Head of Mission Dritan Taulla said Moldovan media suffers from strong partisanship, polarization and lack of autonomy from political and business interest, as well as high concentration of ownership, which threatens pluralism.
The findings of the observation will be included in the Final Report that is to be published within 60 days from Election Day.
The Election Observation Mission of ENEMO for the Presidential Elections 2016 to Moldova is financially supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, within the Accountability Fund Program; and the Black Sea Trust, a Project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
