NGOs consider integrity of parliamentarians-to-be

A group of Ngos reminds the electoral competitors they still can sign cooperation agreements till March 5 on the basis of which their lists of candidates will be verified. On Tuesday, February 24, representatives of the so-called “Civic Initiative for a Clean Parliament” told a news conference hosted by Info-Prim Neo agency that some 40 investigative journalists are already developing profiles of the MPs-to-be. In January, the Initiative proposed all the political parties from Moldova to sign cooperation contracts within a campaign called “Know your candidate” run by those 7 NGOs. Up to now, such contracts have been signed with the Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party, Moldova Noastra Alliance, the Centrist Union, the Patria Rodina Socialists Party and the Republican Party. Leaders of the NGOs from the Initiative, Petru Macovei and Cornelia Cozonac, have said the investigative reporters manage to cooperate relatively easy with the State Registration Chamber, but more difficult with the Fiscal Inspectorate and the General Prosecutor's Office. The journalists are especially interested in verifying if the property declarations the candidate present to the Central Election Commission (CEC) fit the reality. “When the dignitaries make such statements, everyone reading them should be able to say: yes, everything is clear here”, said Igor Botan, the president of the Association for Participative Democracy (ADEPT). “But if there are questions, if the things do not fit, we may ask the authorities to change the law, so that we can make adequate conclusions. Often the declarations contain lapidary information, presented as they wish, and then it is not clear what was the wealth of an MP entering the parliament and what is his property four years later, to see whether his public office was a source of illicit income for him,” Igor Botan specified. The speakers have said the ruling Communists Party did not react to the NGOs' initiative to sign a contract in this respect. But they specify they will analyze the lists of all the electoral competitors, regardless of there are contracts or not. The Initiative will present its infos to the signatory parties, before publicizing them, to let them the opportunity to question the data. The leaders of the parties with such contracts will be spared from being investigated their past to create their profiles. The NGOs from the Initiative say they will publicize the information about the candidates several days before the end of the election race to conclude with the elections of April 5. The Civic Initiative for a Clean Parliament was created by a group of NGOs: the Association for Participative Democracy, the Independent Press Association, the Corruption Analysis and Prevention Center, the Independent Journalism Center, the Journalistic Investigative Center, Acces-Info and the Soros Foundation-Moldova.