OSCE final report on April 5 elections finds further shortcomings, makes recommendations for snap elections

The monitoring of the post-election situation in Moldova brought to light further shortcomings with the 5 April parliamentary elections, concluded the final report on the election process released by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on Tuesday, June 16. The final report found that the post-election period was overshadowed by violent demonstrations and a lack of public trust in the electoral process, and revealed “further shortcomings that challenged some OSCE commitments, in particular the disregard for due process in adjudicating complaints of alleged irregularities and deficiencies in the compilation of voter lists lodged by opposition political parties”. However the report failed to make a final assessment of the allegations of massive voter fraud reported by the opposition parties. “While most cases appeared credible, evidence presented by political parties to the OSCE/ODIHR EOM was limited. A comprehensive analysis and thorough investigation would have been indispensable to reach authoritative conclusions on this issue”, the report explained. ODIHR is preparing to observe the repeat parliamentary elections scheduled for 29 July. "The authorities now have an opportunity before the new elections to take effective measures to address the lack of public trust in the election process," said Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, the Director of ODIHR. Lenarcic added that "improving the voter lists and ensuring an atmosphere free of violence and intimidation will be essential elements in creating an environment for a genuinely democratic election." Among the recommendations on how to improve Moldova's electoral framework the report mentioned the need to take measures to ensure that all contestants have free and equal access to voters and can campaign without any impediments; further steps should be taken to prevent the abuse of administrative resources for campaign purposes at all levels; a clear mechanism should be promulgated by which the raw voter lists should be verified to ensure the accuracy of the final voter lists, etc. The preliminary statement published by ODIHR on 6 April stated that the elections met many international standards, but also highlighted undue administrative interference and lack of public confidence among the concerns noted by the observers.