No serious breaches in Gagauz elections: monitor

The race for the Gagauz People’s Assembly is unfolding without any breaches able to influence the results of the poll. Meanwhile, there persist negative aspects in the campaign. This is the conclusion of the first monitoring report of the League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADOM,) Info-Prim Neo reports. LADOM president Paul Strutzescu told a news conference on Tuesday, March 11, the electoral activities unfolded as required by the law and the international standards regarding the free and fair elections. The members of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) showed openness towards qualified non-governmental organizations from Moldova, concerning the promotion of common programs. At the same time, the LADOM president has said the funding of the race remains a problem. The autonomy’s authorities asked for money from the local budget, invoking the fact the poll was a local one. As the money sources were late to get identified within reasonable terms, a state of incertitude in the CEC’s work occurred. CEC has asked for 900,000 lei for the good organization of the poll. Earlier, the electoral commission assessed the expenditures at 1.2 mln lei. 600,000 lei were already allocated from Gagauzia’s reserve fund. The autonomous authorities want the rest to be covered by the Moldovan Government. Paul Strutzescu has assessed as negative the unjustified involvement of the central public authorities in the electoral process, as some Comrat functionaries make use of administrative levers to get electoral advantages. LADOM recommends issuing a list of ID cards with which one may vote, to train electoral functionaries, to insure adequate conditions in the ballot locales etc. The organization also considers the central and local authorities from Moldova shall preserve the interdiction on distributing the humanitarian aid from Russia, and from other sources for the race period. Paul Strutzescu explains LADOM’s stance by the fact that the aid could influence the electorate’s vote, a reason why it would be better to distribute it after the poll. The project of monitoring the Gagauz elections is part of the NGO’s program of promoting free and fair elections in Moldova. The data published in the first report envisage the period 14 February – 10 March and were collected from the localities Comrat, Ceadar –Lunga and Vulcanesti. The Gagauz parliamentary elections will take place on March 16.