Short-term monitoring of the runoff presidential election in Moldova kicks off

As part of the short-term monitoring mission at the runoff presidential election in Moldova, Head of the CIS Observer Mission, Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council Alexey Sergeev and members of the IPA CIS Observer Team led by its Coordinator Akramsho Felaliev met with Chair of the CEC of Moldova Alina Russu. The parties discussed the outcomes of the monitoring of the first round of election held on 30 October 2016.

"The voting process was well-organized, with voting teams on the ground doing their job professionally. We worked in close contact with the CEC. We reflected our findings in the outcome document on the results of the observation on 30 October. Our assessment of the first round is generally positive", stressed Alexey Sergeev, Head of the CIS Observer Mission.

Coordinator of the IPA CIS Observer Team Akramsho Felaliev gave a positive assessment of the work of the CEC of Moldova. He underscored some technical gaps identified by the IPA CIS observers on 30 October and expressed hope that these gaps would be eliminated.

Chair of the CEC Alina Russu informed the participants on the work done to prepare the runoff election detailing voting procedures for students from other cities and providing additional ballots to the polling stations beyond Moldova, as well as some financial management issues related to the candidates' campaigns.     

The observers also met with the presidential candidate Igor Dodon. They discussed the work of the CEC, district and precinct bureaus during the first round and the preparation for the runoff. They also touched on turnover issues and statistics on political preferences in various regions of the country and abroad. Igor Dodon shared with the observers his impressions on the management of election and pre-election campaigning, identifying some gaps.

The observers also met with the presidential candidate Maja Sandu. She informed the observers on the results of the pre-election campaign in the run-up to the runoff election and underlined some issues related to political leveraging and a lack of objective coverage by the media during TV debates and in general. She also commented on some financial violations in the election management process caused by defects in the national legislation on elections.

Head of the CIS Observer Mission Alexey Sergeev also visited the voting bureaus in Chisinau. He discussed with the bureaus' staff the voter activity during the first round, the work of the observers and the level of preparation to the runoff E-Day.