As many as 139 international observers and over 2,200 national observers are supervising the local general elections held in Moldova today, June 14.
The head of the OSCE/ODIHR Limited Election Observation Mission Kimmo Kiljunen has told IPN the 14 long-term observers and 13 experts who make up the core team have been observing the campaign over the last month, as well as assessing different aspects of the electoral process, including the legal framework, voter and candidate registration, and the media environment, for their compliance with OSCE commitments and other international standards andobligations for democratic elections, as well as with domestic law.
The long-term observers are working in pairs in seven different regions of Moldova, so they will observe in some polling stations in those regions, and members of the core team will also visit a limited number of polling stations.
Final reports by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on elections in Moldova have made recommendations on how the electoral process can be improved to better meet OSCE commitments and other international standards and obligations for democratic elections, as well as domestic law. “We can only fully assess whether these recommendations have been addressed once we have had the opportunity to observe the entire process. We will release a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions at a press conference on Monday, June 15, and in around eight weeks ODIHR will
release a final report on the elections,” said Kimmo Kiljunen.
Pavel Postica, head of the Local Election Monitoring Effort of Promo-LEX Association, has told IPN that the expectations of today’s elections are that the voters will come to the polling places in a large number and will make a conscious choice, that they will choose the candidate who is the closest to their soul and who is able to solve the problems faced by the settlements. The expectations of the electoral bodies are that they will work in a professional way, in accordance with the law, and will ensure a free and fair electoral competition for all the contestants.
As to the irregularities identified in the election campaign, Pavel Postica said there were witnessed very many cases of use of administrative resources. On the other hand, there was recorded a lower number of cases of electoral present offering. The quality of voter rolls is a worrisome problem as the suspicious migration of voters before the elections is.
Promo-LEX has about 1,300 short-term observers who supervise the June 14 elections at all the polling places in the municipalities of Chisinau, Balti and Comrat and at another 700 polling places all over the country. By a short-term observer was additionally delegated to monitor the 896 electoral constituencies of the first level.
On the election day, the Monitoring Effort of Promo-LEX will give three press briefings, at 10am, 3pm, and 8pm.
