Promo-LEX observers report over 100 incidents at opening of polling stations in Moldova

Chisinau, 3 November /MOLDPRES/ - The Promo-LEX mission for the observation of the presidential elections till 9:00 reported a number of 141 signalings of incidents as to the opening of the polling at the runoff election and 109 of them have been already verified and confirmed. Early in the morning, the observers reported already cases of organized carriage of voters and also attracted attention to the fact that the preliminary information showed that the number of applications on voting at the place of stay had increased by 40 per cent against the first round of the ballot. The head of the Promo-LEX Observation Mission, Nicolae Panfil, today unveiled data to this effect.       

According to the observers, 62 out of the 614 polling stations monitored at the opening were opened a bit earlier or after 7:00. At the same time, the solemnity of the voting process through the signing of the national anthem and the posting of the national flag was not ensured in at least 87 polling stations. Most Promo-Lex observers assessed the performance of the members of the electoral bureaus in the process of opening as good and very good (98.9 per cent).      

„Regretfully, we have an ascertaining based on a comparison with the data from the first round of the ballot. We will try to monitor this aspect during the day, in order to see whether if there is only a statistic increase or if there will be incidents found out in this respect. We talk about the applications on voting at the place of stay, registered till the time of opening of the polling stations. I attract attention that, for the runoff election, based on the sample of 614 polling stations, observers reported that about 28,000 applications on voting at the place of stay had been registered, which is by over 40 per cent more against the first round of the elections, when there were almost 20,000 applications on voting at the place of stay at the time of opening of the polling stations. This figure is not final, given that the electoral procedures allow the submission of applications to the electoral bureaus for the voting with mobile ballot box during the days of elections. We will monitor this aspect in continuation,’’ Nicolae Panfil said.      

The observers also signaled 25 cases in which the ballot boxes were not sealed according to the legal procedures and 51 cases of deficiencies in the work of the Elections Information System, which imply technical errors or problems dealing with voters’ registration. The infringements of the secret of vote through the photographing of ballot papers, the posting of the ballot paper with the vote given or the defective placement of ballot papers, which allow visualizing the voter’s option, were reported in five cases.   

At the same time, incidents dealing with the influencing of the vote were found out. ‘’We attract attention that we have already cases of organized carriage of voters. In fact, a pretty enhanced activity is noticed as regards this phenomenon in Istanbul, Turkey. At about 7:50, at an area of 100 metres around the polling station, a transport means was noticed with a Moldovan registration number, from which at least four electors got down; the car moved away immediately after the passengers had got down. They went to the polling station to vote. There is information in the public space alleging that this case will not necessarily be the only one and during the day we will be quite attentive to cases of organized transportation of voters, in the sense that this is banned by the law and hence, it is an infringement,’’ Nicolae Panfil also said.  

For the election day, Promo-LEX delegated by one observer for short term to 614 polling stations, selected based on a sample established by a sociological company. Besides, by one static observer was sent to those 30 polling stations where the electors from the Transnistrian region exercise their right to vote. Special attention is paid to the polling stations from abroad, where 91 static observers were delegated.    

Besides the static observers, Promo-LEX detached 89 mobile teams, in order to monitor the electoral process at the polling stations which are not comprised in the sample. The mobile teams will observe the ways of access to polling stations, including for the ones where the electors from the Transnistrian region will vote.