Accuracy of Voter Lists
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REPORT Assessing the Accuracy of the Electoral Lists in the Republic of Moldova, Republican Constitutional Referendum 2010 This report is elaborated within the project „Monitoring the process of compiling and updating the electoral lists during the elections from autumn 2010”, financed by the Council of Europe and co-funded by the East–European Foundation. The Institute for Human Rights in Moldova (IDOM) is exclusively responsible for the contents of this publication and in no case may it be treated as a reflection of the visions of the Council of Europe or East–European Foundation. Chişinău 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Methodological Framework......................................................................................................................................4 Monitoring Data........................................................................................................................................................4 Central Electoral Commission (CEC)......................................................................................................................4 Electoral District Councils (EDC)............................................................................................................................5 Local Public Administration (LPA)..........................................................................................................................6 Electoral Offices of the Polling Stations (EOPS).....................................................................................................7 Recommendations....................................................................................................................................................8 2 Executive Summary Continuing the pilot-project from 2009, the Institute for Human Rights in Moldova (IDOM) has launched for the Republican Constitutional Referendum another pilot-project on “Assessing the accuracy of the electoral lists in the Republic of Moldova”. All the electoral actors and factors that influenced the process of supervising the voter lists have been examined, according to a methodology which covers the geographic area based on representative sample, direct observations, interviews and comparative analysis of data. 91 observers have been appointed and they attended 121 polling stations, covering the municipalities of Chişinău and Bălţi, all those 32 second-level territorial administrative units (rayons), and 45 first-level territorial administrative units (communes and villages). For the good organization of the Republican Constitutional Referendum, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has elaborated necessary instructions and has organized training seminars in all electoral district councils, distributing to all the Local Public Administrations (LPA) the voter lists obtained from the State Register of Voters. However, the Electoral Commission did not manage to send the instructions to all LPA and polling stations, and did not receive the voter lists under the terms previously determined. The fact that CEC did not place the electoral lists on its webpage is contrary to the electoral legislation of the Republic of Moldova. The monitoring of the Electoral District Councils (EDC) has demonstrated the necessity of a proper training of all the members of EDC in order to ensure an adequate management of the electoral lists and effective access to information. It is necessary to identify the persons who have experience within the framework of EDC and to involve them in the training seminars organized for LPA and Electoral Offices of the Polling Stations (EOPS), a fact which would contribute to a better decentralization and efficiency of the training activities conducted by CEC. Also, it is desirable to involve all EDC and LPA in an active collaboration for ensuring the accuracy of the voter lists. As it happened during the previous elections, the LPA faced primarily with lack of human resources, and with the financial and technical ones as well. The monitored Local Public Administrations have elaborated differently the voter lists; most of the monitored LPA used at least three sources for the formation of the electoral lists, including the local registers, the information from CEC and the electoral lists used during the previous elections. In most LPA the difference between the number of the voters included in the electoral lists received from CEC and the number of the voters included after updating the lists was not significant, varying from 6 to 50 persons. The main reasons stated by the Local Public Administrations were the following: elimination of the persons who died, who changed the home address/residence (those who have left/arrived), and persons who meanwhile reached the age of 18 years. In some districts, the LPA has excluded from the electoral lists the persons who left abroad. The majority of the electoral offices offered free access to the observers for monitoring the process of updating or modifying the voter lists. However, in some polling stations the access was practically not possible, because they were closed or in the process of some refurbishment works. Almost half of the monitored electoral offices did not make public the electoral lists in the terms provided by the Electoral Code, meaning 16 August 2010. The electoral offices continued the process of updating the voter lists even after being received by LPA. It is recommended to the electoral bodies to identify the premises of EOPS and to appoint their members in order to ensure the accessibility of electoral lists in the terms stipulated by the Electoral Code. Moreover, it is recommended to the electoral bodies to provide the electoral offices with all necessary technical resources and materials for a better administration of the electoral process. 3 Methodological Framework The present report was elaborated due to the involvement of 91 observers who participated actively in the monitoring process on the entire territory of the Republic of Moldova. The observers have been assigned to different district of the country according to a representative sample. The sample covered the polling stations from municipalities of Chişinău and Bălţi, all those 32 second-level territorial administrative units (rayons), and 45 first-level territorial administrative units (communes and villages) as well. Thus, a total of 121 polling stations have been monitored. (The list of the monitored polling stations is attached.) The concept of assessing the accuracy of the electoral lists included a series of methods. The observers monitored the process of compiling and updating the lists, focusing on the election responsible bodies and local public administrations. Also, the volunteers from the Institute for Human Rights in Moldova organized interviews with the election officials and representatives of the local public administrations. The data following the interviews was compared with the results of the interviews held with voters, direct observations of independent observers and statements of the voters after verifying the names in the electoral lists. The report provides a comprehensive analysis done by electoral relevant bodies and local public administrations regarding the process of compiling and updating the electoral lists. Taking into account the limited access to the voter lists, materialized through the impossibility of making copies, or verifying holistically the information by the civil society, the present report does not provide quantitative data with regard to the accuracy of the electoral lists; it presents more an overview of the quality of the process, availability of the human and technical resources, accessibility for voters to the electoral lists. Monitoring Data Central Electoral Commission (CEC) In accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Moldova, the Central Electoral Commission has adopted the Programme for implementing the activities regarding the organization of the Republican Constitutional Referendum dated 5 September 2010 and the Regulation on elaborating, compiling, distributing and updating the electoral lists. In the period July-August 2010, CEC organized training seminars in all the districts of Moldova, involving the participation of the chairmen and secretaries of first and second levels Electoral District Councils, electoral offices, etc. On 5 and 13 August 2010 the Central Electoral Commission has accredited 105 observers from IDOM. It is welcomed the fact that these observers had access to the solicited information, the attitude of the electoral officials being a cooperative and friendly one. According to the statements made by CEC, in July 2010, within the framework of the training seminars the Commission distributed to the local public administrations the electoral lists obtained from the State Register of Voters. The electoral lists have been submitted in Excel format. In accordance with the electoral calendar approved by CEC, the updated lists followed to be sent till 13 August 2010. The observers of IDOM noted that when the deadline expired, CEC has got less than a half of the electoral lists. On 17 August, 1070 lists have been received by CEC in electronic version out of 2035 polling stations assigned for the whole territory of Moldova. On 20 August 2010, 1333 lists have been received in electronic format. On 1 September 2010 CEC was still continuing to receive the electoral lists, which were in both Excel and Word formats. 4 In accordance with the approved programme, the Central