None of the two candidates for mayor of Chisinau fully reported the costs they incurred in the election campaign prior to the mayoral runoffs. They organized debates or other events covered by the media, but the costs for these weren’t included in the presented financial reports, shows the fifth monitoring report compiled by the Observation Mission of Pomo-LEX Association that was presented on June 1. This covers the period between May 21 and 30. The finances of election runners were monitored during May 23-25, IPN reports.
The Socialist candidate reported costs for advertisements on TV (153,670 lei), radio (55,500 lei), print media (47,500 lei) and other expenses totaling 322,000 lei, not yet costs for organizing events. The campaign funds of the candidate of the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” remained unused, according to the financial reports. The unreported costs of Ion Ceban were estimated at over 161 million lei, while of Andrei Nastase at 36,000 lei. Observation Mission chief Pavel Postica told a news conference that at least 76 electoral promotion activities were staged in the monitoring period: 62% by the Party of Socialists and 38% by the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth”.
The observers identified at least one case that can be regarded as use of administrative resources. Andrei Nastase organized a meeting with voters inside a medical institution during the working hours. Also, at least four cases can be classed as offering of presents in the election campaign. In all these cases, sympathizers of the Party of Socialists provided services to lay out playgrounds (three cases) and to paint at least one public transport station. Promo-LEX identified at least three cases of hate and discriminatory speech against the election runners and at least two cases of use of hate and discriminatory speech by the candidates.
