Eurasia Foundation launches four projects to monitor local general elections 2007

The Eurasia Foundation Moldova Representative Office is launching four projects to monitor local general elections, within the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections – Coalition 2007. The projects will be administered by the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT, the League for Defence of Human Rights in Moldova (LADOM), the Association of Independent Press (AIP) in partnership with the Independent Journalism Centre (IJC), and the National Youth Council of Moldova (NYCM) together with the Association for Moldovan Legal Clinics (AMLC). The projects are financed by the Eurasia Foundation with resources from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The Eurasia Foundation aims at increasing standards when conducting elections, in accordance with international recognised values, and to raise awareness of citizens and authorities in Moldova over the importance of free and fair election process in a democracy. The ADEPT’s aim is to ensure that election officials have the necessary understanding and capacity to organise the 2007 General Local Elections. In cooperation with the Central Election Committee, the grantee will train nearly 1500 members of District Election Committees (DECs) and supply copies of the newly amended Election Code. LADOM will perform comprehensive monitoring, observation and analysis of the pre- and election campaign, Election-day activities, and the post-election period by means of over 200 observers. AIP/IJC will carry out comprehensive monitoring of local and national TV, radio stations and newspapers. The results will be published in biweekly and final reports and presented to local and international stakeholders. The project will provide independent analysis of biases in media coverage of the local elections and advocate for balanced reporting and broadcasting. NYCM/AMLC will foster active participation among young people in Moldova during the 2007 general local elections. The grantee will conduct a nationwide civic education campaign including a hotline, workshops, trainings, and informational materials geared toward young voters. The project will provide young people with accurate and unbiased information about the candidates and increase voter turnout within this demographic group. Coalition 2007 is a group of non-governmental organizations that continue the civil society’s efforts to contribute through assistance, activities, monitoring and analysis to the conduct of free and fair local elections. The Coalition 2007 members were also part of the Coalition 2005 for Free and Fair parliamentary elections.