The conduct of election management bodies during the electoral period in Moldova can be characterized as professional and transparent, yet the work of CoECs (district electoral councils) was considered to be too strict by a number of candidates, resulting with a relatively high number of invalidated signatures, even for minor technical mistakes.
This was concluded in an interim report presented at the press conference of ENEMO International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) in Moldova.
The Head of the Mission, Dritan Taulla, said that the performance of the Central Election Commission has been professional in the observed aspects.
“The sessions of the CEC are transparent, open to media and observers, as well to the public through online streaming. ENEMO commends the legal amendments regarding the process of signature collection, such as elimination of a number of unnecessary bureaucratic procedures and lowering the number of needed signatures, in line with previous recommendations made by the Venice Commission, ENEMO and OSCE/ODIHR”, said Taulla.
The Deputy Head of the Mission, Bosko Nenezic, explained that a number of interlocutors of the EOM have raised concerns that some of the newly introduced amendments to the legal framework might cause difficulties for contestants and voters to properly understand new procedures and, more importantly, implications of the newly introduced system.
“ENEMO uses this opportunity to condemn all attacks against election contestants and candidates, as well as any other attempt to prevent electoral and relevant non-electoral stakeholders to organize, participate, monitor, or report on the electoral process”, said Taulla.
In addition, as he said, ENEMO urges all relevant state authorities to do all in their power to prevent such cases and act swiftly to investigate and bring eventual perpetrators to justice, so that the right of every contestant to campaign freely is ensured.
“The next report will be mainly focused on the electoral campaign, voter lists, preparations for Election Day, eventual complaints and appeals, as well as other aspects”, said Nenezic
Following an invitation of the Central Election Commission of Moldova, ENEMO has deployed an International Election Observation Mission to observe the 2019 Parliamentary Elections, scheduled to be held on 24 February. The Mission is composed of a Core Team of eight international experts, based in Chisinau, and ten long-term observers, deployed in five multinational teams of two, throughout the country.
The Core Team has been established since the beginning of the election period, and the long-term observers have been deployed on 10 January 2019. The EOM will not engage additional short-term observers on Election Day. However, at least seven teams of observers, in teams of two, will be formed from the current members of the EOM to monitor the voting, vote counting and tabulation of results in a number of polling stations.
The Election Observation Mission of ENEMO to Moldova for the 2019 Parliamentary Elections is financially supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; Sweden; the National Endowment Foundation of the US Congress, through the National Democratic Institute; and the European Union.
About ENEMO:
The European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) is an international network of 21 leading non-profit, non-partisan and non-governmental organizations from 17 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including two European Union countries, founded on September 29, 2001.
ENEMO seeks to promote civil society organizations’ involvement in societies with democracies in transition, towards improvement of electoral processes, greater transparency of the governments and their accountability to the citizens, and respect of basic human rights and freedoms. To achieve this aim, ENEMO works independently or in cooperation with its member organizations.
ENEMO has endorsed the 2005 Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation and the Declaration of Global Principles for Non-partisan Election Observation and Monitoring by Citizen Organizations. Each ENEMO observer signs the Code of Conduct for International Election Observers.
