The October 20 and November 3 elections were partially free and fair. The integrity of the process was affected by foreign interference, illicit campaign financing and corruption of voters, representatives of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections stated in a news conference held at PN.
The Coalition’s secretary Polina Panainte read the CALC statement according to which "the electoral authorities made considerable efforts to ensure the independence and impartiality of the electoral process. On election day, the electoral bodies demonstrated a high level of professionalism. However, the performance of some of the officials of lower electoral bodies was affected by partisanship and integrity vulnerabilities, especially in the first round of voting and in the context of the constitutional referendum.” The reduction in the number of polling stations in the Russian Federation, Israel and Ukraine generated uncertainties. The Coalition recommends increased transparency in the communication of these decisions in the future so as to avoid perceptions of political influence on the electoral process.
The Coalition expresses its deep concern about the unprecedented scale of foreign interference, especially on the part of the Russian Federation, which negatively influenced the electoral process in the Republic of Moldova. These actions manifested themselves in illegal financing of electoral campaigns, corruption of voters and disinformation campaigns, aimed at influencing the electoral behavior of citizens. The Coalition appreciates the efforts of the police, the National Anticorruption Center and other authorities in documenting and investigating cases of illicit financing and corruption of voters, but regrets that, although the law enforcement agencies were aware of these practices, the preventive measures needed to combat illegal financing were not adapted on time, and the interventions in the current election campaign were insufficient in relation to the scale of the phenomenon, said Polina Panainte, reading the CALM statement.
According to the head of the Promo-LEX Observation Mission Nicolae Panfil, the legal framework for the presidential elections and the constitutional referendum of 2024 saw significant improvements together with the adoption of a new, revised and updated Electoral Code, with new measures for ensuring transparency of election campaign financing and increasing access to the media for all election contestants. The legal framework was qualitative enough to ensure democratic elections and, although there were made particular legislative changes during a period shorter than a year before the elections, these contributed to improving the electoral process as a result of the 2023 elections.
Nicolae Panfil noted that some of the candidates and their supporters used negative rhetoric and hate messages, as well as social division based on identity and political criteria, unrealistic promises, messages that go against the fundamental human rights ,and attacks on civil society, promoted by some of the candidates. These all contributed to the polarization of the electorate, influencing the voting decision. The involvement of religious denominations in the election campaign represented a serious violation of the principle of separation of the church from the state in the electoral process. In this regard, the Coalition regrets the lack of prompt action on the part of the authorities to penalize hate speech and the involvement of religious denominations in the election campaign, but it is hopeful that there will be much fewer problems of this kind in the next election campaign, and the authorities will be more proactive.
The executive director of the Independent Journalism Center Nadine Gogu said that pluralism of opinion and gender balance were not fully ensured and some of the media outlets showed bias towards particular election contestants in programs. Impartiality was also affected by the covering of the campaign through the angle of the activities of the central public administration, which were often presented in a light that was favorable or unfavorable to some of the candidates. The Coalition stresses the importance of stricter rules for the online environment, which are necessary to combat disinformation that can affect citizens' voting decision. On this segment, there is considerable room for the intervention of the competent authorities.
Dan Arnaut, a bureau member of the National Youth Council of Moldova, said that the persistent problems related to the physical accessibility of polling stations for people with locomotor disabilities represent a major challenge. About 90% of polling stations are inaccessible. Also, particular ethnic communities faced discriminatory messages and hate speech, which affected the fairness of the electoral process.
The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections calls on the authorities and political actors to implement preventive measures and improve responses to hybrid challenges. Sustained cooperation between the authorities, civil society and citizens is needed to defend the integrity of the electoral process and restore citizens' trust in Moldova's democracy, the CALC statement reads.
Note: IPN Agency offers the right of reply to persons who consider that they were targeted in the news articles produced based on the statements of the organizers of this press conference, including by facilitating the organization of another press conference under similar conditions.
