In a news conference at IPN, CReDO director Sergiu Ostaf said the parliamentary elections of February 24 are monitored by the Resource Center for Human Rights with the assistance of advanced scientific technology. The study has several components: the behavior of voters; the use of administrative resources; the behavior of the media and public finances. “We would like to bring added value to the understanding of the electoral process,” noted Sergiu Ostaf. CReDO will suggest a comparative view of what is going in in Moldova and in another two countries, Romania and Ukraine, in the same situation.
The Socialists aims to reform the education system. According to Alexandr Usatyi, municipal councilor in Balti and former teacher, said the backsliding in education became more visible after 2009. Schools were closed and other problems appeared as a result and these made education inefficient. Introducing video cameras at Baccalaureate exams was a mistake.
The ruling Democratic Party promises that the average official salary will increase to almost 13,000 lei during the next four years. The statement was made by Prime Minister Pavel Filip in a meeting with employees of the road building and repair company SA “Drumuri Strășeni”. The attraction of investment is another priority of the PDM. “Everything that was done in the country, was done through the agency of the Government and with the involvement and devotion of the candidate your see here. I do not make an abuse when I say that this is the best candidate as you realize that we named the best person as Head of Government,” said the leader of the PDM Vlad Plahotniuc, who accompanied Pavel Filip in Strășeni.
According to a report compiled by ADEPT, only a part of the electoral promises turn into government objectives. Usually, the Government’s program is designed based on the development strategies, recommendations of partners or the objectives set down in the cooperation documents and the promises made in the election campaign are not taken into account. (The impact of the Democratic Party’s electoral economic initiatives that were included in the program of 2014 and were implemented during the past two years after taking over wasn’t fully felt by the national economy. More foreign investment could not be attracted and more jobs could not be created and external migration wasn’t diminished. As regards infrastructure and communications, some of the promises are fulfilled partially or were already delivered. In the public administration, the commitments undertaken by the Government are general and declarative. The situation concerning local autonomy and decentralization remains one of the areas where problems and shortcomings continue to be witnessed. Regrettably, the authorities’ reaction remains formal and declarative).
Representatives of the electoral bloc ACUM said armies of trolls were used in the current election campaign to denigrate the opposition and to sing praises to the regime, trying thus to influence the decision of voters. “The closer we come to the election day, the more we realize that these elections look more like charlatanry than free and fair elections. We daily witness numerous abuses committed by the PDM and its satellites – bribery of voters, use of administrative resources and non-declaration of money with which the campaign is financed, obstruction of the vote of an increasing number of people. But the misinformation and fake news are the biggest black spot of this campaign. The government spends millions on the fabrication and distribution of lies to confuse the people and gain their vote by deceits,” Maia Sandu stated in a news conference.
“Both yesterday’s and today’s assertions should be treated strictly in the context of the election campaign,” the spokesman for the Democratic Party Vitalie Gamurari stated for IPN, commenting on the statements made by politician Maia Sandu, who accused the Democrats of fabricating pictures and videos following the exposure of their trolls.
On February 18, the public station Radio Moldova begins the second round of electoral debates. The participants will present their electoral programs, will respond to moderators’ questions and will be able to make replies from Monday through Friday, starting at 7:15pm. Also from February 18, when the last week of the election campaign starts, Radio Moldova will allot free by 10 minutes of airtime to each participant in the national consultative referendum of February 24. The division “Rostrum of the electoral contender” starts at 11:.40am.There, the competitors will provide arguments for and against the reduction in the number of MPs and the recalling of MPs who do not appropriately fulfil their duties.
President Igor Dodon announced that in the Munich Security Conference in which he is taking part these days, he will present a balanced foreign policy concept that is based on the permanent neutrality status of the Republic of Moldova. “What does this mean? It means keeping the relations with Europe and the signed agreements, but also restoring the relations with Russia and avoiding anti-Russia or anti-European and anti-U.S. actions,” he stated.
The return home of the president of the Political Party “Our Party” (PPPN) Renato Usatyi depends on the people’s vote. The vice president of “Our Party” Dumitru Chubashenko said that after the party forms a parliamentary group in the next legislature, these MPs will demand by legal ways that the police, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of the Interior should account for the criminal cases started against Renato Usatyi and explain why none of these cases was sent to court.
Elections in plain words from IPN: election day. The parliamentary elections and the national consultative referendum will take place on February 24 and the polling places will be opened at 7am and will be closed at 9pm. If there are voters who didn’t manage to cast their ballots inside the polling place at the closing hour, these will be allowed to vote.
When the voters are inside the polling place, they present to the operator the identity card of the citizen of the Republic of Moldova with the accompanying loose leaf that confirms the person has the domicile or residence in the area covered by the polling place or other papers, such as the temporary identity card that includes mentions about the Moldovan nationality and the holder’s domicile, the soldier’s record and the small book issued by the Civil Service Center to persons who do the civil military service (alternative).
The voter can decide whether to take part in the parliamentary elections and in the referendum or only in one of these. If the voter damaged a ballot or voted for another contender than the desired one out of inattention and didn’t put the given ballot in the ballot box, this has the right to ask a new ballot, but only once.
After the voter puts the stamp “Voted” in the ballots, this should fold the ballots so that the option is not seen and to put them in the ballot box.
Details on IPN!
