Moldova’s local elections efficiently administered and offered voters diverse choice, within context of political turmoil, international observers say

CHIŞINĂU, 15 June 2015 – The 14 June local elections in Moldova were efficiently administered and offered the electorate a diverse choice. They were held in a context of political turmoil due to a massive financial scandal and the resignation of the Prime Minister two days before the vote, international observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities concluded in a statement issued today.

“The campaign was lively and generally free, though reflected through politically influenced media. It was strongly impacted by the division of political forces and society over the country’s future orientation,” said Kimmo Kiljunen, Head of the OSCE/ODIHR Limited Election Observation Mission. “The elections were well administered despite the fact that the law was changed after the elections were announced.”

The new legal amendments, mainly related to campaigning and campaign finance, addressed a number of past recommendations by ODIHR and the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission. Making the changes so close to the elections, however, was not in line with international good practice and led to confusion and concerns about their implementation, the statement said.

The legal framework generally provides an adequate basis for conducting democratic elections, the observers said. Certain provisions restricting suffrage rights and on campaigning are not in line with OSCE commitments and international standards.

"This concerns, in particular, the situation for independent mayoral candidates, who are required to collect an unreasonably high number of signatures from voters to register in local elections," said Amy Koopmanschap, Head of the delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

Despite these legal amendments and the enhanced oversight role of the Central Election Commission (CEC), the campaign finance regulatory system and its current implementation, are insufficient to ensure the transparency, integrity and accountability of campaign finances. The CEC stated that it lacked sufficient human resources to efficiently monitor campaign finance.

Fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly were respected throughout the campaign in which the main topics included corruption, the economy, and local governance and decentralization. At the same time, the campaign focused on personalities rather than on political platforms, the observers said. Candidates were able to campaign freely in both the State and Russian languages, the statement said.

The media offered extensive coverage of candidates, providing them with the opportunity to address voters. The news coverage of the campaign by the public broadcaster was equitable, but favoured the ruling parties somewhat. Most private television stations monitored failed to comply with the legal obligation to provide impartial coverage, the observers said. Political influence and a concentration of media ownership hampered unbiased news reporting. The Audiovisual Co-ordination Council sanctioned five television stations for biased coverage, but its enforcement mechanisms remain ineffective.

Limited efforts were made to encourage and promote equal opportunities for women’s participation in the elections. There were few female candidates with significant visibility, and gender issues were not addressed during the campaign. While one of the nine CEC members is a woman, women were well represented on mid-level election administration bodies.

The transparency of the electoral process benefitted from citizen observation, and by one organization in particular, which conducted large-scale observation throughout the campaign and on election day, including campaign finance recording and a parallel vote tabulation in the three largest cities.

In the limited number of polling stations and tabulation centres visited by international observers, election day was generally well organized, although vote secrecy was not always ensured, the observers said. They noted that online voter verification and transmission of results from polling stations were efficient.

For further information contact:

Thomas Rymer, OSCE/ODIHR, mobile: +373 68 671 274 or +48 609 522 266, thomas.rymer@odihr.pl

Renate Zikmund, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, mobile: +33 (0)6 59 786 455, renate.zikmund@coe.int