Civil servants from Mayor’s offices and from local and district councils are actively involved during working hours in political and electoral campaigns organized in the context of presidential elections   dated October 30. This conclusion was reached by  Promo-Lex Election Observation Mission.

According to the report No.3 of electoral campaign monitoring, there were registered at least 20 cases of administrative resources use for collecting signatures and organizing meetings with citizens. PDM is in the top with 13 cases, followed by the Socialist Party – 3 cases, PPPN, PPMSPR and PPPEM – by one case each and one case – for independent candidate Vasile Tarlev.

During the monitoring period, Promo-Lex reported more cases of electoral gifts and activities of denigration, black PR and cases for collecting signatures by unauthorized persons. According to the organization, people who were not registered as members of initiative groups were involved to act in the interest of at least 12 candidates. They are: Mihai Ghimpu (PL), Andrei Nastase (PP PDA), Marian Lupu (PDM), Iurie Leanca (PPEM), Igor Dodon (PSRM), Maia Sandu (PAS), Inna Popenco (MPSPR), Valeriu Ghiletchi,  Dumitru Ciubasenco (PN), Vasile Tarlev, Vitalia Pavlicenco and Silvia Radu.

The mission found a total of ten cases of offering electoral gifts, five of which involving representatives of PDM and five -   of the Socialist Party. In this context, experts have called for Parliament to examine urgently needed changes in the Criminal Code regarding bribing of voters, which would make it possible to punish persons who admit such crimes.

Quality of data from the State Register of Voters  is still a problem, say Promo-Lex:

Observers point the existence of problems that are registered at every elections. Among these are: the presence of deceased voters  in the register and noncompliance of addresses with the voters’ identity card. Promo-LEX experts identified in 7 settlements, non-compliance between the addresses indicated in the voter identity cards and data contained in the State Register of Voters. For example, in village Chirsovo of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, there are 80 cases of inconsistency between the  addresses in the register with the identity cards. Also, observers have identified deceased persons listed in the register of voters in at least six settlements.

Representatives of the organization referred to the fact that, of the 24 initiative groups who initiated collecting of signatures, only 11 submitted their financial reports.

Promo-LEX Observation Mission is concerned that at least two initiative groups (MSPRR and PL) presented the financial report  with "zero" expenses, they organized PR activities both on online platforms and on billboards. Four other initiative groups (PDA, PPEM, Silvia Radu and Vadim Brinzan) indicated some sporadic expenses, and travel expenses, expenses for PR materials,  reward for volunteers, indicated "0" expenses. Also, Promo-LEX  wrote that initiative groups did not submit real expenses for advertising  aimed at collecting signatures on online platforms.