Promo-LEX observers of Moldova signal new phenomenon: certain people register presence of voters at polling stations

Chisinau, 3 November /MOLDPRES/ - The Promo-LEX mission for the observation of the presidential elections till 14:00 found out 544 cases with status of incident and 316 of them were conformed. The head of the observation mission, Nicolae Panfil, has unveiled information to this effect.   

Promo-LEX observers signed a new phenomenon in the context of the elections. It regards the presence of people outside polling stations, especially in the Diaspora, who register the flow of citizens who come to the polling stations; so, video images on the presence of citizens at polling stations are recorded. Such situations were reported at polling stations, from Bologna, Rimini, Milan from Italy, Barcelona, Spain, Stuttgart, Germany and the Grigorievca village from Causeni district.    

He said that the presence of these people can point, on the one hand, to attempts to intimidate voters, in the sense that the information might be subsequently used to identity people or, on the other hand, this can be information collected in order to verify the voter turnout, in the context of certain discussions about the fact that, at the first round of the ballot, it would not have been, in fact, so many citizens present in the Diaspora. ‘’This is worrying, as we do not the goal of these people who are nearby the polling station and how these recordings will be able to be used subsequently, which we see for the first time ever in a phenomenon so massively used,’’ Nicolae Panfil said.      

According to the observers, 224 out of the 614 polling stations monitored are not accessible for people with people with locomotor deficiencies and in 203 ones, there is no heating with thermal agent. At the same time, at 217 polling stations, Promo-LEX observers signaled agglomeration situations, both at the headquarters of polling stations and outside. Of them, agglomerations were registered in 12 polling stations from those 30 ones opened for voters from the Transnistrian region as well as in 48 from 65 polling stations from abroad, where Promo-LEX observers are present.     

Most incidents signaled by Promo-LEX observers regard the infringement of the secret of vote, by photographing the ballot paper, posting the ballot paper with the vote given or defective placement of voting booths (88 cases), followed by  incidents dealing with deficiencies in the electoral lists (38 cases), unjustified presence of unauthorized people inside the polling station in the area of 100 metres (22 cases), presence of advertising materials, electoral posters, panels nearby polling stations (12 cases), unjustified group voting (6 cases).     

The observers reported also five cases of attempt of giving money for the vote given.    

Another seven cases regard the organized carriage of voters. More exactly, according to Promo-LEX, till 11:00, a big flow of vehicles with Transnistrian registration numbers were registered in Rezina, which were repeatedly bringing voters. Observers report that each car was carrying by 4-5 persons.  

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.