The deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Stefan Uritu said the electoral system of Moldova is based on mutual control and this is absolutely normal. “We must make sure that the authorities intervene less. We must not tend to have a body that will control things. Everything must take place by mutual consent,” he stated in the public debate “Framework for regulating and ensuring 2014 parliamentary elections: guarantees, innovations, challenges and dangers” that was staged by IPN News Agency in partnership with Radio Moldova.
The functionary compared the electoral process with a football match, saying an inspection body should only monitor things, like a referee, so that the rules of the game are respected. For the rest, the ‘players’ must obey the rules by mutual consent.
Speaking about possible challenges and dangers deriving from the regional situation, Stefan Uritu said we now must be very vigilant. “In Ukraine, we saw attempts to hack into the server of the electoral body in Kiev during the elections. We must expect anything,” he stated.
Stefan Uritu added that the biggest problem concerning the electoral process is that the authorities cannot make sure that the people in Transnistria cast their votes. “We will find a way out for them to be able to exercise their rights, at least to a certain extent,” he said.
As to the correctness of the elections, Stefan Uritu noted that measures taken now guarantee that there won’t be cases with significant rigging impact. “In 2009, we identified about 200,000 names written on several electoral lists simultaneously. We now have the register of voters and such cases will not repeat. If we all want fair elections, we will have them. We pay if we are indifferent to particular violations,” he said.
Speaking about the request of the Gagauz authorities to elect representatives of the region to Parliament but according to other criteria, Stefan Uritu said that Moldova committed itself to guaranteeing the human rights and freedoms, including of the people from Gagauzia, but not only. “There are not only Gagauz ethnics in Gagauzia. What should we do with the others? The representatives from Gagauzia should be elected according to the same criteria. Otherwise, we will have discrimination or favoritism,” he stated.
The public debate “Framework for regulating and ensuring 2014 parliamentary elections: guarantees, innovations, challenges and dangers” is the 32nd of the series of debates “Development of political culture in public debates” that are staged by IPN Agency with the support of the German foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
