The electoral campaign is marked by abusive use of administrative resources and the involvement of officials in electoral activities. The finding is contained in the third report of the Promo-LEX Election Observation Mission.
The Mission reiterates that the November 5 general local elections are competitive and notes the increase in the number of registered candidates for all types of elective offices, compared to the previous local elections of 2019. What decreased, albeit insignificantly, from 10% to 8%, is the share of independent mayoral candidates. Conversely, the share of female candidates for mayor offices increased from 26% to 31%.
Promo-LEX observers recorded at least 15 instances of candidates being denied registration. The leading reasons for the rejection were the prohibition to hold a public position/public dignity, and insufficient number of signatures collected. Also, in 30 cases, lists of councilor candidates were registered despite them failing to meet the 40% gender quota.
Promo-LEX found a significant increase in cases that can amount to abuse of administrative resources. Since the official start of the electoral campaign, the number of these cases has increased almost three times and reached at least 43. One such case involves offering of envelopes with cash to potential voters during a public event organized by the Gagauz Governor with the support of the Miron Shor Foundation.
At least 14 cases of distribution of electoral advertising in violation of legal provisions were observed (6 - PAS, 3 - PSRM; 2 - PSDE; 2 - PDCM; 1 - PR) and 6 cases in which electoral advertising was distributed simultaneously with political advertising (4 – PAS, 1 – PSDE and 1 – PSRM).
At least 9 cases of hate speech, incitement to discrimination and other forms of intolerance were identified. Most cases were identified in social media (3) and print and online media (3). The current election is the first where the use of hate speech by electoral competitors, including through electoral materials, is prohibited and sanctioned.
Also, the Mission draws attention to the situation of exclusion from the electoral lists of a large number of voters, who de facto live in the Corjova commune, but in their identity documents they have their domicile established/assigned in the city of Dubăsari. Most of the voters excluded from the lists reside in the village of Mahala, which is part of the commune of Corjova, but in the identity cards issued for the residents of the village of Mahala, the domicile is established as Dubăsari.
The period covered by the report is mostly October 5-17. But the observation of the financing of the electoral campaign was carried out in the interval between October 6-13. The monitoring of hate speech and incitement to discrimination covers the period from September 29 to October 12.
