The November 5 local elections were held in new conditions that put some of the election contenders in difficulty. Even if it is too early to speak about new tendencies concerning the particularities of the violations committed at the local level, including from the viewpoint of electoral corruption, the use of the administrative resource remains the most frequent violation, Igor Bucătaru, head of the analysis team of Promo-LEX Association, stated in a public debate hosted by IPN.
Referring to violations or incidents, Igor Bucătaru said that the use of the administrative resource is at the top of the list and this can be probably a particularity of the local elections. The cases of corruption can be divided into large-scale corruption and private cases of corruption. “There were initially those signatures collected for such projects as “Moldovan village” and “Moldovan town” about which they spoke and to which they made reference. There were also rather private cases when washing machines, dryer machines were offered to particular institutions to corrupt these. There were cases when candidates went to particular families during the campaign and made donations, including of food products, pillows and other things, and excursions were staged,” said Igor Bucătaru, noting that these violations were indicated in the fourth November 5 elections monitoring report that was presented by Promo-LEX.
As to the way in which parties are funded and who monitors the flow of money, the expert said that the Central Election Commission is the authority that supervises and exercises such control during the election period over the activities of election contenders and of political parties in general. The legislation, in principle, wasn’t modified much as the authority remained the same. However, particular elements became more pronounced. There are voices saying that the law made too harsh in this regard. The attitude and the implementation matter now.
He also said that the way in which the costs incurred for campaigning are reported is a very important aspect related to transparency. This issue has been raised for many years and remains a problem. “For example, they say that person who stays in tent was paid 80 lei or 100 lei an hour, but this money is not indicated in reports,” stated Igor Bucătaru.
The public debate entitled “Influence of acts of corruption on election process at local level” was staged by IPN as part of the project “Stimulation of discussion in the mass media about traditional particularities of local elections and the need for Europeanization” which is supported by Soros Foundation Moldova.
