The PSRM transferred over 5 million lei from the current account into that of the electoral campaign without indicating who de facto contributed, which represents a situation of undermining the transparency of the electoral campaign financing. The finding appears in Report no. 3 of the Observation Mission of the general local elections and snap parliamentary elections of October 20, held by the Promo-LEX association.
At an IPN press conference, Pavel Postica, the head of the Observation Mission, has said that there have been reported cases when pensioners donated amounts ranging from 5 to 15 thousand lei to "Șor" Political Party and Our Party/Partidul Nostru. Also, 12 electoral competitors omitted to reflect the expenses incurred between September 6 and 20, 2019 and a number of six electoral competitors made expenditures for electoral purposes from sources other than the Electoral Fund account.
According to Pavel Postica, the number of cases of administrative resources use is also increasing. "At least 5 cases have been identified, of which 4 at the PSRM and one at the Romanian Popular Party. At the same time, the activities of promoting the candidates continue to be carried out by assuming the merits for the projects implemented on public money, being identified at least 8 cases, 7 at the PSRM and one at the PLDM ”, said Pavel Postica
There have been reported at least 4 cases that can be qualified as offering goods during the election period. Also, observers reported four cases in which the image of foreign officials is used to promote the candidates, all cases concern the Romanian politician Traian Băsescu and the National Unity Party”, mentioned Pavel Postica.
Based on the information reported by the monitors, there have been identified at least five cases in which the electoral competitors have publicly shared discriminatory messages or other forms of intolerance, of which: PL - two situations, and ACUM Bloc, PN and PLDM by one each. Among the competitors who were targeted in hate speech, a case was identified - the candidate of the "Șor" Political Party.
The head of the Election Observation Mission recommended the electoral authorities to verify the origin of the incomes of the electoral competitors and to emphasize the compulsory submittal of the financial reports.
The report was drawn up by Promo-LEX with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development, through "Democracy, transparency and accountability" program and, as regards the hate speech component, with the financial support of the Soros Foundation Moldova.