The human rights situation in 2008 created preconditions for the dramatic events that happened in 2009, the head of Promo-LEX Association Ion Manole said during a roundtable meeting in Chisinau on November 24, where there was presented the report “Human Rights in Moldova 2007-2008”. Ion Manole said the situation during the last few years has been unsatisfactory and all the reports and international resolutions on the observance of human rights in Moldova pointed to practically the same violations. He stressed that after the change of power, the authorities devote greater attention to this issue. The jurist considers that the people are too indifferent, but they could help significantly improve the situation. “We want that the report for 2009 outlines at least twice fewer problems,” Manole said. Lawyer Victor Pantaru also considers that the people should get involved as no political party and no government can succeed on one's own. According to the studies made by Promo-LEX, at least 30% of the persons arrested during 2007-2008 were detained groundlessly. Though projects have been implemented to ensure the observance of the social rights and there were adopted a number of Government Decisions, the number of cases of violations of the rights to a decent living, to social protection and assistance, to medical care and to protection against unemployment has increased. About 40% of Moldova's population lives below the poverty line. The electoral rights of the people have been also infringed. The rights of the persons holding dual or multiple nationalities have been violated. The electoral blocs were banned and the election threshold was raised from 4% to 6%. The jurists say that the authorities during 2007-2008 hindered the access to information. There was no control over the implementation of the legislation in the field. “The situation of the residents of Transnistria remains difficult. They do not benefit from social protection and assistance from the state, while the number of Transnistrian detainees is six times higher than the average in the member states of the Council of Europe,” the report says.