The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections considers the November 30 parliamentary elections were free and partially fair. In a news conference at IPN, the Coalition’s secretary Nicolae Panfil said that these elections can be considered free because there was ensured a campaign climate not marked by violence. There were no attempts to intimidate and hinder the candidates from presenting their political programs. All the people were able to vote and there was a clear separation between Parties and State, which didn’t allow the election runners to use the public resources in the election campaign.
Compared with the previous elections, the normative framework adopted by the Central Election Commission was better. More polling places were set up for the Moldovans from Transnistria and for those who are abroad. The attempts to intimidate voters are yet regrettable. Also, a number of media outlets covered the election campaign in a biased way and the anemic behavior of the Broadcasting Coordination Council in this respect is disappointing.
The executive director of “Promo-LEX” Association Ion Manole said that this election campaign was a dynamic one. There were used different innovative elements and technologies showing that things in Moldova develop. Unfortunately, the voter turnout was lower than expected.
The director of the Partnership for Development Center Alexei Buzu said the women’s presence on the lists of candidates in these elections was at the level of 30.5%, compared with 29% in 2005. The difference in 10 years is of only 1%. “This shows how hard the political class changes in Moldova. Even if we passed the barrier of 30%, we hope that after the seats of MP are distributed, we will have at least as many women in Parliament,” he stated.
The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections consists of a number of nongovernmental organizations working in different areas. Its goal is to contribute to holding free, fair, transparent and democratic elections and to strengthening civil society so as to ensure conscious elections, the observance of voters’ rights and the principles of equality applying to the participants in the electoral process.
