“Though a number of violations were signaled, we cannot say that the presidential elections were rigged,” Douglas Wake, Head of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission, stated in the program “Moldova live” on the public TV channel Moldova 1, IPN reports.

“We identified a number of violations, but no election goes perfectly. It is regrettable that ballots weren’t enough for the citizens from the diaspora. Also, at several polling places the votes for one candidate were mixed up in favor of another candidate. But it happens. Mistakes are made sometimes. I understood that these were the preliminary results. It is the results based on voting reports that count actually,” said the Head of Mission.

Douglas Wake also said that the OSCE/ODIHR Observation Mission will be in Chisinau for one more week. “We are a long-term observation mission. We monitored not only Election Day, but also how the election campaign was conducted. We will stay in the Republic of Moldova for at least one more week to monitor the resolution of disputes in court,” he stated.

Douglas Wake noted that a set of recommendations for improving the election process in the Republic of Moldova will be formulated when the mission is completed. “Following the recommendations made by our observers earlier, a number of changes were made to the election process in the Republic of Moldova, bringing it closer to that in the European countries. The introduction of the electronic system is an achievement,” said the Head of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission.