The quality and accuracy of the registers of voters remains a major problem before the July 29 parliamentary elections, say national observers. They warn that the inclusion of dead persons or persons that are not eligible to vote in the lists or the repeated inclusion of voters in the rolls are conditions for vote rigging, Info-Prim Neo reports. These are the general conclusions of the preliminary reports prepared separately by the Association for the Promotion of Legal Clinics of Moldova and the Alliance of Community Centers for Access to Information and Training of Moldova (Alliance CCAII). The Association checked the electoral rolls in 200 polling places in districts, while the Alliance – in 25 polling stations in the municipality of Chisinau. The observers said that in many polling places, the lists were posted with delay. “Of the 200 verified poling stations, one fourth posted the rolls as required, starting with July 14. However, the lists in most of the stations were placed after July 15 or even on July 23, at the insistence of the observers,” said Olga Straton, executive director of the Association for the Promotion of Legal Clinics. “In some of the polling places, the lists have not been posted. In Zaim village of Causeni district, the president of the electoral office carries the lists in his bag, arguing that they could be damaged or stolen,” Olga Straton added. Only 11% of the checked rolls were drawn up correctly. The other lists, according to the observers, contained dead persons or incomplete information about the voters – only the name and place of residence, without data from the identity card. “So that the lists could be modified on a short-term period, the observers and voters should have access to the rolls, while on a long-term period, there should be introduced a Common Voter Register,” Olga Straton said. Victor Koroli, executive director of Alliance CCAII, said that in the municipality of Chisinau the observers identified 946 inaccuracies and errors in the registers. Contestations over the identified irregularities were submitted in 9 of the monitored 25 polling places. Eugeniu Rabca, legal consultant at Alliance CCAII, stressed the reduced responsibility for drawing up and checking the registers of voters. “The Central Election Commission obstructed the activity of the monitors by banning them from copying the lists, saying they are confidential. The Commission ignores its legal obligations,” the jurists said. The Alliance lodged an application with the Chisinau Court of Appeals, informing that the lists include persons sentenced to imprisonment terms of over five years, which is against the electoral legislation. The report by the Association for the Promotion of Legal Clinics, which was drawn up in cooperation with the League for the Defense of Human Rights of Moldova (LADOM), is part of the program on the assessment of the quality and accuracy of the registers of voters for the July 29 parliamentary elections. The report was prepared as part of the Electoral Support for Moldova Project financed by the EU and co-financed and implemented by the United Nations Development Project. The Monitoring of Electoral Rolls in Chisinau Municipality Project is financially supported by Eurasia Foundation with resources from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the British Embassy in Chisinau/ the Strategic Program Fund and the United States Agency for International Development. Both of the reports were compiled as part of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections – Coalition 2009.