Report 3, Promo-Lex, May 21
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THE CIVIC COALITION FOR FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS PROMO-LEX REPORT No 3 Monitoring of the General Local Elections of 14 (28) June 2015 Monitoring period: 21 May - 10 June 2015 Published on 12 June 2015 Chisinau, 2015 1 All rights are protected. The content of the Report may be used and reproduced for not-for-profit purposes and without the preliminary consent of Promo-LEX Association, provided that the source of information is indicated. The Monitoring Effort of the General Local Elections of 14 (28) June 2015 is supported financially by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Council of Europe, and benefits of technical assistance provided by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI). The opinions presented in the report belong to authors and do not necessarily reflect the donors’ view. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... 4 FINDINGS ............................................................................................................................................... 5 1. ELECTORAL BODIES ...........................................................................................................................5 2. CIVIL SOCIETY .................................................................................................................................. 12 3. LOCAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION .............................................................................................. 12 4. ELECTIONS CANDIDATES .............................................................................................................. 13 5. LOCAL AND REGIONAL MASS MEDIA ........................................................................................ 22 FINANCING OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN ................................................................................................ 22 1. ELECTION FUNDS AND TREASURERS ......................................................................................... 22 2. FINANCIAL REPORTING OF ELECTION CANDIDATES ............................................................. 22 3. ACTIVITY OF EXAMINING BODIES .............................................................................................. 31 OBSERVATION METHODOLOGY OF PROMO-LEX ASSOCIATION ........................................................ 33 RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................................................................... 33 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 35 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As part of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, Promo-LEX is performing the long-term monitoring of the election period related to the general local elections of 14 June 2015. This report covers the election period between 30 April and 20 May 2015 and reflects the findings of electoral nature together with the corresponding legal framework, which were reported by Promo-LEX observers. Regarding the financial statements of the election contestants, these were compared against the observers’ field findings for 8 May - 5 June 2015, determining the differences between the data. During the monitored period the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) had an ordinary working regime. CEC worked on the voters lists, has accredited 878 more national observers, among which 687 on behalf of Promo-LEX and 80 international observers, and has also analyzed / made a statement regarding 12 litigations. During the reference period, with some minor delays, the management of the electoral offices of the polling stations (EOPS) was elected. The logistics of the polling stations (PS) remains a major issue. The observers have reported the organization of 33 trainings for the electoral officials. However, the large number of the electoral officials, in particular of those delegated by the political parties, which did not attend the trainings remains a concern. The Promo-LEX observers have determined several cases of increasing the number of voters registered on the lists of voters in at least 8 level I ECC, including the registration of several persons at the residence of the electoral candidates. This fact represents a major concern regarding the fairness of the local elections in the respective constituencies. Promo-LEX Observation Mission concluded that 10 parties, 1 electoral block and 10 independent candidates have organized various electioneering activities. Compared to the previous reporting period, Promo-LEX determined a considerable growth in the number of electioneering activities. The election candidates used the traditional launching of election campaigns, meetings with voters, electoral concerts, distribution of electoral advertising, outdoor and media advertising, organization of sports activities, electoral tents, etc. Another concern are the instances when administrative resources were used, as reported by Promo- LEX observers, during the reference period, being identified 39 cases. From the beginning of the observation mission, Promo-LEX determined the existence of a total number of 61 cases of administrative resources use, which is by 19 cases more compared to the 2011 elections. According to the observers, at least 42 cases when the election candidates used electoral presents were reported. From the launching of the Mission, a total number of 51 cases of offering electoral presents were observed, compared to 2011, when Promo-LEX identified 99 cases. The civil society’s involvement became more visible during this period. At least 8 organizations organized public debates, civic and electoral education campaigns, thematic workshops. The local and regional mass-media performance was moderate; the observers reported that only 9 newspapers and 4 local and regional TV stations were involved in the promotion campaign of some electoral candidates. Regarding the financial statements of the election candidates, Promo-LEX found that compared to the Parliamentary Elections of 30 November 2014, the non-reported expenses were lower in the electoral campaign for the general local elections of 14 (28) June 2015. Regarding the financial statements, 16 election candidates submitted their statements to CEC, and 15 of them reported revenues and expenses. Only 1554 citizens contributed with MDL 36,881,143.06 to the electoral campaign funds of the parties and electoral blocks. The financial sources marked as “membership fees” are still not clear. The election candidates - political parties and electoral blocks - 4 reported to CEC a total amount of MDL 51,555,645.25. According to Promo-LEX, 388 independent candidates submitted notifications that they didn’t use any financial, 78 submitted financial statements, and 42 declared the total revenues of MDL 358.323 to the electoral councils of the 2nd level electoral constituencies (ECEC II). The political parties and the electoral blocks reported most of their expenses - 76% for electoral advertising. At the same time, no political party or electoral block reported any rewards as expenses. The largest expenses were reported by PDM - MDL 17,304,667.32, accounting for 29.21% of the threshold set by CEC. In the Orhei constituency, during the reference period, the electoral candidate representing MSPR Ravnopravie spent the reported amount of MDL 2,488,559.39. Comparatively, this amount is 4.56 times larger than the regular amount that can be spent by an independent candidate (IC) for the entire electoral campaign in the Orhei constituency. FINDINGS 1. ELECTORAL BODIES CEC Decisions During the reporting period, CEC adopted 2 decisions on the regulation of the electoral process. Thus, CEC approved the sample ballot paper for the councilor’s election in the Comrat Municipal Council, the Territorial-Administrative Unit Gagauzia (TAUG), determining the format/type/colour of the ballot papers. CEC decided that the voters from Chitcani com. (Merenesti v. and Zahorna v.), Cremenciug v. and Gasca v., Causeni d., where balloting stations electoral offices have not been established due to the absence of Local Public Administration (LPA), to participate at least in the election of the District Council. Thus, the voters from the Chitcani com. and from Cremenciug v. will vote at the polling station No 23 from Copanca v., and voters from Gasca v. will vote at the polling station No 27 from Farladeni v. At the same time, CEC decided to relocate polling station No 3 from Corjova com., Dubasari d. inside the Family Doctors Office from Cocieri v., Dubăsari d. Temporary Suspension of the Websites Administered by CEC On 29 May 2015, the National Center for the Protection of Personal Data (NCPPD), based on a complaint submitted by a citizen back in 2013, decided to start an unannounced control at CEC in order to investigate some alleged actions of illegal processing of personal data. According to the electoral legislation, CEC is the only public authority responsible for the drafting of the lists of voters, which contain data that are classified as personal data. Likewise, starting with 2013, CEC submitted to the Parliament a request to clarify the legislation on the use of personal data in the electoral process. The CEC requests have been never examined. As a result of this, on 30 May 2015, CEC was forced to suspend indeterminably the websites it manages (www.cec.md, www.voteaza.md, www.alegator.md). On the same day, the