Promo-LEX Election Observation Mission for the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020: Last details on the conduct of election

1 November 2020
Time: 10:00 p.m.

Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020 informs that as of 10:00 pm the Mission had received 520 incident reports from observers, Promo-LEX analytical team processed 439 reports, and this press release contains information on 73 incidents:

Last details on the conduct of election:

Promo-LEX Observation Mission of the Presidential Election in the Republic of Moldova of 1 November 2020 finds,

Interrupted video recording of electoral procedures for polling station opening or procedures of ballot papers counting – 6 cases.

• PS 25/045 Orhei, Malaiesti. The video camera was not turned on, neither in the morning, nor when the PS was closed. The PEB Chairperson did not do anything about it, having explained that it was simply broken.
• PS 27/25 Riscani, Hiliuti. The camera was not turned on when vote tabulation started. The PEB Chairperson explained that it was a technical issue that wasn’t up to them to solve.
• PS 27/27 Riscani, Malinovscoe. The camera in the PS was on throughout the entire day. The PEB Chairperson said that the camera was turned on in the morning and remained on till the evening.
• PS 01/051 Chisinau, Botanica. The recording was interrupted as the video camera didn’t work properly. According to observations, it overheated.
• PS 25/011 Orhei, Orhei. The camera was not turned on when vote tabulation started. The PEB Chairperson said that turning it on was not necessary. After the PEB Chairperson checked the Electoral Code, he called CEC and was told that if the video camera did not have enough storage space, there was nothing to do about it.
• PS 01/192, Chisinau, Rascani. The video camera stopped recording for uncertain reasons. The PEB Chairperson was informed about it and they are working on addressing it.

Intimidating observers or preventing the free observation process at the polling station – 2 cases.

• PS 1/2 Chisinau, Botanica. The observers were denied access to the PS for about 10 minutes.
• PS 1/1 Chisinau, Botanica. Access to the PS was restricted for disinfection purposes. Only the PEB members and Elections SAIS operators are inside.

Problematic voting with mobile ballot box – 2 cases.

• PS 01/100, Chisinau, Buiucani. One and the same mobile ballot box was taken for a second time to voters between 6:35 p.m. and 6:55 p.m.
• PS 01/282, Chisinau, Ciorescu. The same mobile ballot box was taken three times to voters (between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.; 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.; 4:30 p.m. and 6:35 p.m.).

Unjustified presence of unauthorised persons inside or within 100 m from the polling station – 4 cases

• PS 1/261, Chisinau, Singera. The Mayor of Singera visited the PS in the company of a few councillors. He did not vote, but only tackled the issue of long queues outside the PS.
• PS 6/5 Briceni, Lipcani. The mayor was seen a few times in the vicinity of the PS. The PEB members assumed he was there to meet voters transported by cars with tinted windows.
• PS 18/7, Floresti, Ghindesti. Inside the PS, there was a person who introduced himself as observer. When asked by the other observers to present his credentials, he was found not to have an observer accreditation. He admitted to having lost it. As a result, the PEB Chairperson asked him to leave the PS.
• PS 01/261, Chisinau, Singera. The mayor entered the PS without indenting to vote. He talked to the PEB Chairperson for 5 minutes, then spent about other 10 minutes outside watching the crowd of voters waiting for their turn.

Rumors, attempts or even situations of in-kind or cash rewards offered to voters within the are of 100 m from the polling station in order to influence them – 2 cases.

• PS 19/25, Glodeni, Fundurii Vechi. A man was treating voters with alcoholic beverages (7-8 people) some 50 m away from the PS. When the PEB Chairperson was informed about it, the man was already gone.
• PS 37/6 transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Gura Bicului. One of the voters transported in organised manner to the PS, was saying outside the PS that he would be paid 50 euros if he voted for a particular candidate. The PEB Chairperson notified the law enforcement officers about it, who stopped the man and talked to him.

Organised voter transportation (by buses, passenger vans or other vehicles that wouldn’t normally be around) – 3 cases.

• Transnistrian region, Floresti, Sanatauca. At around 6 p.m., 3 wood slabs with nails were placed on the road from the customs to the PS in order to make it more difficult to travel from the transnistrian region. The observers travelling in a private car ended up with a flat tire because of them.
• PS 37/6 transnistrian region, Anenii Noi, Gura Bicului. Two cars (ROQ 472, B 870 AH) were seen transporting voters in an organised manner.
• PS 1/161, Chisinau, Ciocana. A red car was transporting elderly voters. It drove within the area of two PSs. There were potato bags in the trunk.

Acts of violence or bullying against voters or other persons — 1 case.

• PS 37/24 transnistrian region, Dubasari, Cocieri. An observer appointed by a candidate was assaulted verbally by the President of Dubasari District – Grigore Filipov as he was documenting (he took pictures of vehicles transporting voters) events taking place outside the PS. In the opinion of Filipov, the observer didn’t have the right to take pictures, and went as far as to call the police.

Presence of advertising materials, electoral billboards and posters in the vicinity of the polling station (within the area of 100 m from the PS) – 2 cases.

• PS 18/7, Floresti, Ghindesti.  Posters of all candidates were displayed within the area of 100 m from the PS.
• PS 27/27 Riscani, Malinovscoe. Posters of one candidate were displayed within the area of 100 m from the PS.

Electioneering or black PR within the radius of 100 m and/or near the polling station to influence the voters – 2 cases.

• PS 12/2 Criuleni, Criuleni – Centre. The PEB Chairperson electioneered in favour of a candidate inside the PS. He put his bag and a sack with the slogan of the candidate in a place for everyone to see.
• PS 1/362, Italy, Pesaro Urbino.

Deficient operation of Elections SAIS (suspended functionalities; situations where Elections SAIS showed that the voter had voted, although the latter claimed he had not) – 3 cases.

• PS 1/14 Chisinau, Botanica. The operators reported that the ID card scanners worked poorly, and for that reason they introduced the data in Elections SAIS manually for the most part.
• PS 01/137, Chisinau, Center. Elections SAIS stopped working properly at 8:54 p.m., and the PEB members sought technical assistance. A voter, who at that time arrived to the PS to vote, was recorded on the additional list to be allowed to vote.
• PS 01/084, Chisinau, Buiucani. A voter showed up at the PS in a state of anxiousness and indignation for unknown reasons. When one of the PEB members made an attempt to tone things down, the voter responded aggressively and hit an PEB member.

Deficiencies in the lists of voters (inconsistent addresses; deceased voters; signatures in the wrong place – for other people) – 3 cases.

• PS 27/25 Riscani, Hiliuti. At 5:00 p.m. one voter was neither on the list of voter, nor in Elections SAIS. The PEB officials said they knew him and that he was from that constituency. CEC was notified, the voter was included on the additional lists and voted.
• PS 18/29, Floresti, Ghindesti. About 120 voters on the lists of voters from Ghindesti town were included in the lists of voters of Ghindesti village. The PEB Chairperson said he knew where those people lived, but the lists were drafted with errors.
• PS 1/275, Chisinau, Bacioi. One voter found that despite that he has been living in the same settlement for 30 years, he was not on the main lists of voters. The PEB members reported the same situation during the previous elections. As a result, the voter refused to participate in the voting process because he didn’t want to be included on the additional lists because he was a permanent resident and has had residence within the area of this PS.

Taking pictures of the ballot papers, other violations of the secret ballot (submission of ID card on the basis of which the voter had already voted, inappropriate laying out of booths because of which one could see who other voters cast their vote for) – 11 cases.

• PS 36/19 Gagauzia ATU, Ceadir Lunga. At 7:40 one voter made a picture of his ballot paper in the voting booth, and afterwards cast his vote. The PS chairperson notified the situation, but didn’t manage to respond.
• PS 25/045 Orhei, Malaiesti. One voter started to shoot the lists of voters. The PEB Chairperson asked him to stop and to delete the video, but the voter became aggressive and yelled at an observer and at the PEB Chairperson. The Chairperson called the police that took measures and asked him to delete the video.
• PS 25/012 Orhei, Orhei. At 7:33 p.m. one voter took pictures of the lists of voters. The PEB Chairperson insisted to delete the pictures. The voter said he deleted them.
• PS 18/004 Floresti, Floresti. In the polling station, one voter took a picture of the ballot paper after using the wet stamp. He was stopped in the polling station by the PEB Chairperson and by a police officer and was asked to delete the picture. At the request of the police and PEB Chairperson, the citizen deleted the picture.
• PS 1/275, Chisinau, Bacioi. A voter, after applying the stamp ‘voted’, took a picture of the ballot paper. The PEB Chairperson reprimanded him, but without any result.
• PS 01/194, Chisinau, Rascani. One voter took a picture of his ballot paper. The voter deleted the picture upon the request of the PEB Chairperson.
• PS 01/225, Chisinau, Rascani. One voter took a picture of his ballot paper. This was noticed by a member of the PEB. The voter deleted the picture when asked to.
• PS 01/216, Chisinau, Rascani. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. The photo was deleted at the request of PEB Chairperson.
• PS 01/114, Chisinau, Center. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. PEB members noticed this situation and reprimanded him.
• PS 01/218, Chisinau, Riscani. A voter made a picture of his ballot paper while throwing it in the ballot box. This was notified by an observer from the PS, but PEB members did not respond. The voter left the PS in a hurry.
• PS 01/261, Chisinau, Ciocana. One voter took a picture of the ballot paper. The voter was reprimanded.

Unjustified termination/suspension of voting at the polling station – 1 case.

• PS 36/27, ATUG, Vulcanesti. Representative of a candidate noticed and filmed how two PEB members copied the data from the lists of voters about voters who didn’t vote. After the conflict that emerged, they called for the law enforcement authority. The two PEB members were escorted to the police, and in the meantime the voting process was suspended and then resumed after 15-20 minutes.

Failure to observe COVID-19 protection and prevention measures – 5 cases.

• PS 32/33 Stefan Voda, Volintiri. At 6:25 p.m. the temperatures of two voters were not taken.
• PS 1/13 Chisinau, Botanica. When taking the temperatures of the observers who arrived to the PS, the information was written on a white sheet of paper – not in the PEB monitoring register, invoking the reason that the register was elsewhere. They were informed that the data would be copied later into the register.
• PS 18/45, Floresti, Marculesti. Anti-COVID measures (social distancing, masks worn properly) are not observed by both voters and PEB members.
• PS 32/10 Stefan Voda, Cioburciu. The observers of a candidate were talking without masks inside the PS.
• PS 6/12 Briceni, Bogdanesti. Voters’ temperatures were not taken.

Ballot boxes were not sealed according to the legal procedures/tearing/damage or absence of seals on ballot boxes — 1 case.

• PS 6/4 Briceni, Lipcani. At 7:40 p.m. PEB members removed the mobile ballot box seals. At 7:45 p.m. the PS received a call from a family who requested, according to the procedure, the mobile ballot box in order to exercise their right to vote. At 7:45 p.m., without removing the ballots from the mobile ballot box, the PEB members went to the needed address where 5 voters voted. The PEB members came back at 8:25 p.m.

Electricity outages – 3 cases.

• PS 1/269, Chisinau, Vatra. Between 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. the electricity went out. The voting process was not interrupted because the computers were equipped with power supply units.
• PS 9/23 Calarasi, Horodiste. At  9:30 a.m. the electricity went out for 5 minutes, after which the electricity supply restarted.
• PS 22/002, Leova, Leova. At  5:10 p.m. in the PS the electricity went out for 40 minutes. PEB Chairperson tried to fix the problem by calling Union Fenosa, meanwhile using flashlights. The voting process was not interrupted.

Vote tabulation issues – 8 cases

• PS 01/056 Chisinau, Botanica. About 6 ballot papers, with ‘Voted’ stamp applied incorrectly, were found during vote tabulation. PEB Chairperson took pictures of these ballot papers.
• PS 31/02, Soldanesti, Soldanesti. Unused ballot papers are annulled at the same time with cast vote tabulation.
• PS 01/218, Chisinau, Rascani. The video camera was positioned onto the ballot boxes, but it doesn’t catch the entire vote tabulation process. PEB members failed to take certain measures.
• PS 15/13 Dubasari, Cosnita. The provisions of the legal framework were not observed upon the counting of ballot papers. Thus, the ballot papers were divided into 40 pieces per PEB member, distributed by candidates and then counted.
• PS 01/203, Chisinau, Rascani. The camera was not positioned onto the ballot boxes to record the removal of the seals.
• PS 22/33, Leova, Sarata Razesti. Vote tabulation was very messy. PEB members counted the ballot papers in a non-transparent manner. They did not present the ballot papers in favour of each candidate, but only reported the number of votes accumulated by them.
• PS 01/216, Chisinau, Rascani. An unauthorised person (the school guard) was inside the PS helping with vote tabulation.
• PS 01/100, Chisinau, Buiucani. An unauthorised person (driver) was inside the PS during vote tabulation.

Other – 14 cases

• PS 9/35 Calarasi, Sadova. At 8:40 p.m the mobile ballot box came back to the PS, but the voters who requested it did not manage to vote. PEB Chairperson asked CEC to extend the voting process by one hour, in order to make sure that the last voters will manage to vote. CEC allowed extending the voting process.
• PS 1/2 Chisinau, Botanica. Two voter with mobility impairments made significant efforts to get to the PS, because of its inaccessibility.
• PS 01/108, Chisinau, Buiucani. Two voters (students) expressed their right to vote without presenting any documents to confirm their residence in Chisinau and without a voting right certificate.
• PS 01/203, Chisinau, Riscani. The Elections SAIS revealed that the voter has an expired ID card. The voter was allowed to vote at the request of the PEB Chairperson.
• PS 01/115, Chisinau, Center. A voter noticed that there was already a signature next to his name. The voter was very revolted, nervous and aggressive, declaring that his right was violated. The police was invited.
• PS 1/379, Italy, Mestre. A ballot paper with the mark ‘voted’ on it was found in the voting booth and it was annulled.
• PS 1/383, Italy, Bergamo. A voter married, but came to the PS with the ID card she had before marriage, and before changing her name. PEB members decided to allow him to vote on the basis of the unchanged ID card.
• PS 6/21 Briceni, Criva. PEB members were keeping the stamp ‘voted’ on their desks. The voters had to take them together with the ballot paper. After voting, they had to return the stamps back on the members’ desk.
• PS 12/13, Criuleni, Cruglic. A voter forgot his ballot paper in the voting booth and left the PS without voting. Subsequently, a voter entered the voting booth, noticed the ballot paper and informed PEB members about that. In their turn, the members drawn up a protocol and introduced the ballot paper in the ballot box.
• Chisinau mun. A Promo-LEX observer was called by the representative of a candidate and was encouraged to vote.
• PS 1/278, Chisinau, Bubuieci. A voter showed up at the PS without the loose leaf. He was registered by operators in Elections SAIS, but the PEB members did not allow him to vote.
• PS 37/1 transnistrian region, Chisinau. A voter from the transnistrian region tried initially to vote in PS 1/225, where he was assigned according to Elections SAIS, but PEB members refused to issue a ballot paper. After PEB members from PSs 37/1 and 1/225 sorted things out, the voter voted.
• PS 36/35 Gagauzia ATU, Beschioz. At 6:08 p.m., a number of 1028 persons were recorded in Elections SAIS as having voted, but there are only 1015 persons on the lists of voters. PEB members are verifying the situation.
• PS 26/24 Rezina, Meseni. A voter came at 7:37 p.m., whose personal identification number and year of birth were wrong. The chairperson took measures and made the needed corrections in the database.

The press release is developed as part of the Observation Mission for the Elections of the President of the Republic of Moldova on 1 November 2020 and is conducted by Promo-LEX Association with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) via the ‘Democracy, Transparency and Accountability’ Program, the Good Governance Department of Soros Foundation-Moldova under ‘Monitoring the Presidential Elections of 1 November 2020’ Project, and the Council of Europe under ‘Support for civic observation of 2020 Presidential Election in polling stations abroad’. ‘Hate speech’ component is supported by Justice and Human Rights Department of Soros Foundation-Moldova under ‘Consolidation of a platform for the development of activism and education in the area of human rights in Moldova – stage IV’ Project.

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If there are any discrepancies between the text in Romanian and its translation, the provisions formulated in Romanian shall prevail.

For more information, please contact: Inga Stegarescu, Press Officer of Promo-LEX Association GSM: 069 26 96 84; E-mail: [email protected]