On September 17, 2020, the Promo-LEX Association has published the second report of the Observation Mission (OM) on the presidential elections in Moldova, referring to the period from August 26 to September 15.

According to the OM report, 13 candidates were nominated for presidential elections. 9 of them were nominated by political parties and 4 candidates were nominated as independent candidates. “However, Promo-LEX emphasises that with regards to at least two nominated independent candidates – Igor Dodon and Alexandr Kalinin – the observers reported activities supported by political parties,” the report said. Igor Dodon is, nowadays, the informal leader of the party he previously led – the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, while Alexandr Kalinin never quit his position as President of the Party of Regions of Moldova.

Moreover, cases of using hate speech and incitement to discrimination in the public space (disability, sex, health, age, professional activity and political affiliation) launched by presidential candidates or targeting them were identified, along with cases of failing to fully reflect all expenses incurred during the pre-election period. The total amount that was estimated by Promo-LEX as undeclared expenses was at least 735 021 lei, as, for example, no initiative group reported expenses on the activity of signature collectors and 9 initiative groups failed to fully reflect the payments made to signature collectors, expenses with transportation of persons and advertising.

Promo-LEX observers reported at least 5 cases of offering electoral gifts, at least 8 cases of taking credit for activities funded from public money and at least 2 cases where the image of foreign officials was used in association with the nominated candidates.

In the opinion of the Promo-LEX OM, the existing legal framework does not contain precise and sufficient provisions to ensure equal opportunities for all candidates in the presidential election. “The Promo-LEX OM qualifies as unjustified and excessive the CEC interpretation that limits the financing of the election campaign by political parties, social-political organisations and electoral blocs that nominated candidates for the elections. We believe that due to the lack of express legal provisions, political parties are treated as legal entities that may contribute financially to the election campaign only with up to 12 average salaries per economy in 2020. We reiterate that a strict and interpretation-free regulation of the status of the political party in terms of electoral funding of the electoral competitor is absolutely necessary,” is mentioned in the report.

See also: Preparations for ‘successful’ elections began way before the election campaign. Why would it be a problem?

Presidential election fraud

The pre-registration process for the establishment of polling stations abroad and for the voters on the left bank of the Dniester is identified as being a possible source of electoral fraud. As of September 16, the total number of Moldovan citizens who pre-registered to vote abroad was 60 035. “In 2020, most of the requests for pre-registration were made by voters from: Italy – 12 067, the United Kingdom – 9 478, Germany – 6 423 and the Russian Federation – 6 202,” OM reported.

An important thing to mention is that, as compared to 2019, the number of pre-registrations in the Russian Federation increased almost 11 times. According to the ADEPT Association, most registrations in Russia are written requests that are supposed be sent by post or transported to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC).

The increase in the number of pre-registrations in Russia provoked reactions of civil society, that is suggesting a major fraud in the electoral process, artificially contributing to the opening of several polling stations in Russia. “What we see now has absolutely nothing to do with activating the social responsibility in the case of Moldovans in Russia. We are witnessing an attempt to prepare for election fraud. Most likely with the involvement of Russian state institutions. […] I want to warn the CEC that opening polling stations based on such scams will arouse great suspicions,” the expert of the WatchDog.md community Valeriu Pasha said.

Still, such a high number of pre-registrations in Russia has already achieved its goal: in the 2020 presidential elections, there will be 38 polling stations opened in the Russian Federation, whereas there were 11 only in 2019.

An investigation conducted by TV8 reported that several lists submitted to the CEC included dozens of people who are not currently living in the Russian Federation and have never been there for work or visiting, but who signed that they intend to vote in Russia on November 1. The lists include people holding public positions within the local administration led by socialist representatives.

When local officials were asked about their signature, they denied that an illegality was committed. “Some said they had real intentions to travel to Russia and others argue that they were misled, not really understanding what they were signing, in the middle of the road, without going into details and checking carefully what is with that list,” as the investigation article disclosed.

The situation was also commented by the president of the Center for Legal Resources of Moldova, Vladislav Gribincea, who announced that “2 400 of the 4 700 applications from Russia were on paper and brought to the CEC, which is not clear how it was managed during the pandemic.”

Experts and lawyers from the Republic of Moldova recently claimed that they received messages from citizens living abroad complaining that they cannot register to vote in the presidential elections, as they appear on the CEC website as already pre-registered to vote in Russia. Public policy expert Stefan Gligor told ZdG that he received at least four complaints from Moldovan citizens working in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany who faced such situations.

“This is a crime, someone obtained personal data. This is a violation of the law on personal data. This is a fake, it is a well-organized procedure for the false registration of a very large number of people in the Russian Federation, so that a large number of polling stations can be opened there,” mentioned the public policy expert.

“We have information that several socialist councillors collect personal data from relatives, acquaintances, authorities and use them to register people abroad, records that are obviously illegal.”

Nowadays, the electronic registration system in Moldova is built in such a way, that anyone can register a person if he knows the personal identification number.

Head of the Presidency’s Press Service, Carmena Lupei, qualified all these actions not more than “electoral hallucinations” of the political opponents. In the meantime, massive election fraud is prepared.

Photo: Arnaud Jaegers| Unsplash