IDOM finds irregularities in electoral rolls

The Institute for Human Rights of Moldova (IDOM) has identified a series of irregularities in the registers of voters checked in 33 settlements of Moldova. The monitoring was carried out between June 27 and July 16, while the final report was presented at a news conference on Friday, Info-Prim Neo reports. IDOM determined that the persons that went abroad have been struck off the lists in a number of settlements represented by the Communists Party, like Dorotcaia, Parata and Larga. In Albota de Jos village, where the mayor is a member of the Social Democratic Party, and in Copceac village whose mayor is independent, a Communist MP ordered that the persons that are now abroad be removed from the electoral rolls. In five polling places in Chisinau municipality, the IDOM observers discovered the names of 10 persons that died 4-5 years ago in the lists. “This is an insignificant number, but, if taking into account that the IDOM monitors in the municipality of Chisinau interviewed 30 persons born before 1940, 10 cases is an extremely worrisome figure,” said project coordinator, independent, expert Vlad Lupan. According to Lupan, even if the representatives of the Central Election Commission recommended verifying the lists at home in 18 of the 33 settlements monitored by the IDOM, only seven local public authorities followed the recommendations. Seven local public authorities of those that said they did not receive such instructions from the CEC decided to verify the list at home on their own initiative. “The information presented to the IDOM monitors is contradictory: in some cases the local public authorities were told to follow the instructions of the CEC, while in other cases they were told that the checking of the lists at home is not efficient as there is no time,” the expert said. Lupan also said that the publication of the electoral rolls on the website of the Chisinau administration so that the voters could check them to see if there names were included is a good step. However, the lists were to be posted or presented to the electoral offices of the polling places, but this wasn’t done or was done with delay, the project coordinator said. According to IDOM, the fact that the lists include by about 6,000 voters more than for the spring elections is worrying. Vlad Lupan recommends that in the future the lists should be posted at least 20 days before the elections. He also said that the legislation in the field should be improved, the population educated and there should be organized training seminars for the local public authorities.