Doc. 9037

23 April 2001

Ad hoc Committee on the observation of the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova
(22–26 February 2001)

Report

Bureau of the Assembly

Rapporteur: Mr Andreas Gross, Switzerland, Socialist Group

I. INTRODUCTION

1.       At the invitation of the Moldovan authorities, the Bureau of the Assembly decided to set up an ad hoc committee with the task of observing the parliamentary elections held on 25 February 2001.

2.       Following proposals from the political groups, the Bureau established the Ad hoc Committee as follows: Mr Jacques Baumel (France, EDG), Mr Wolfgang Behrendt (Germany, SOC), Mr Doros Christodoulides (Cyprus, UEL), Mr Björn von der Esch (Sweden, EPP), Mr Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), Mr Ulrich Irmer (Germany, LDR), Mrs Maggi Mikaelsson (Sweden, UEL), Mr Tomasz Wojcik (Poland, EPP).

3.       At its meeting on 23 February, the ad hoc Committee elected Mr Björn von der Esch as its Chairperson and Mr Andreas Gross as Rapporteur.

4.       The elections, the third parliamentary elections held since Moldova gained independence in 1991, resulted from the failure of the last Parliament to elect a President with the necessary 3/5 majority, or 61 votes of the 101 available.

5.       In a second attempt, the leader of the Communist Party, Mr Voronin, obtained 59 votes, two short of the 61 required.

6.       In compliance with Article 78 of the Constitution, President Lucinschi signed a decree on 31 December 2000 dissolving Parliament and scheduling early elections for 25 February. One of the first tasks of the new Parliament will therefore be to elect the President of the Republic.

II.       ELECTORAL LAW

7.       The electoral law passed by Parliament on 24 November 1997 has been amended several times to improve provisions concerning voting and vote-counting. In particular, these improvements focused on the form of the ballot paper, ie a single sheet listing all the candidates instead of a pad of voting slips. On the new ballot paper, the candidates are listed in the chronological order of their registration with the Central Electoral Commission.

8.       As in 1998, these elections were held on the lines of a single national constituency, with 101 members of Parliament to be elected for four years, on the basis of proportional representation. However, since the previous elections, the minimum percentage of votes required has been amended from 4 to 6% for political parties and electoral blocs and from 4 to 3% for individual candidates.

9.       Twenty-seven candidatures were registered by the Central Electoral Commission, from 12 political parties, 5 electoral blocs and 10 independent candidates.

10.       The number of voters has fallen since the local elections of June 1999, following the decision of the Central Electoral Commission to strike from the electoral roll all those people who had been absent from their domicile for over six months.

11.       The law grants each party, electoral bloc and independent candidate equal access to the media, including radio and television.

12.       The mood of the election campaign was generally serene but was marked by allegations that individuals in government benefited from more favourable conditions. It must be pointed out in this respect that, contrary to practice in 1998, electoral legislation no longer requires candidates to suspend their political or governmental activities during the election campaign.

13.       The participation during the election campaign, although to peaceful does not reflect the real democracy. This made the members of the Committee rather confused as they were not used with such an attitude. In fact, with so much at stake the public debates and civil participation could have been more intensive and more animated.

14.       It must also be noted that a private television channel (ORT Moldova) campaigned for the Prime Minister and his alliance and that "Catalan" television breached the electoral code by exceeding the legally stipulated time allocated to the National Liberal party, which resulted in its licence being withdrawn.

III.       TRANSNISTRIA

15.       As for the previous elections, voting could not take place in the Transnistrian region owing to the failure to co-operate of the Transnistrian authorities, which considered that Transnistria was a "separate State".

16.       Consequently, the Central Electoral Commission organised a bus service, as in 1998, so that voters could cross the river and vote in one of the 8 polling stations specially set up for them (in 1998 there had been 13).

17. Only 2,700 people crossed the river to vote (compared with 9,000 in 1996 and 3,738 in 1998) as the great majority abstained for fear of reprisals and also by lack of interest.

IV.       VISIT BY THE AD HOC COMMITTEE

18.       During its visit, the ad Hoc Committee held meetings with the OSCE/ODIHR, the Central Electoral Commission, the Governor of Gagauzia and representatives of the diplomatic missions accredited in Chisinau, as well as representatives of the political parties and NGOs. It also held a joint press conference with the OSCE/ODIHR (the text of the press release appears in Appendix 1 to the present report).

19.       During those meetings, most of the participants agreed that on the whole the electoral campaign had been conducted satisfactorily and calmly.

V.       POLLING DAY

20.       The Ad hoc Committee split into several groups in order to visit as many polling stations as possible and was present at the opening of the polling stations at 7 am in order to check that the ballot boxes were installed and correctly sealed.

21.       Upon arrival, voters showed their passport to register and were then given a ballot paper. Once in the polling booths, the voters stamped the paper opposite the party, block or candidate of their choice and then had their paper stamped by an official before placing it in the box.

22.       The official results were as follows:

·       Number of voters registered: 2,371,345

·       Number of voters: 1,454,617

·       % turnout: 61.34 %

Results:

·       Communist Party: 50.07% (71 seats)

·       Braghis Alliance: 13.36% (19 seats)

·       Christian Democratic Popular Party: 8.24% (11 seats)

The other political parties and electoral blocs failed to make it over the 6% hurdle and no independent candidates scored over 3%.

The Committee members regret the weak representation of the people in the Parliament due to, on the one hand, a weak participation in the vote and, on the other hand, the number of parties that did not overcome the threshold of the representation.

VI.       CONCLUSIONS

23.       In general the parliamentary elections were conducted in a satisfactory and serious manner.

24.       The candidates were able to campaign in the right conditions, and voters were able to freely express themselves, with the exception of Transnistria where candidates and voters had difficulties in exercising their civic rights in adequate conditions.

25.       The members of the ad hoc Committee would like, however, to draw the Assembly's attention to certain areas where improvements could be made:

-       revision of the minimum percentage of votes required. The respective thresholds of 6% for parties and electoral blocs and 3% for candidates resulted in only 2 parties and 1 bloc being represented in Parliament;

-       revision of the single constituency system. This system does not give independent candidates much chance of being represented. Nor does it permit proper representation of national minorities;

-       revision of the system for listing candidates on ballot papers, and instead drawing lots to establish their order;

-       thicker ballot papers since it was often easy to see through them and see whom the elector had voted for.

Appendix 1

INTERNATIONAL ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSION

FOR INFORMATION

PRESS RELEASE

Parliamentary elections in Moldova comply with international standards

Chisinau, 26.02.2001 – The Parliamentary elections in Moldova complied with international standards, the International Election Observation Mission in Chisinau concluded.

"These elections in Moldova consolidated a democratic trend that should continue. Unfortunately, people in Transdniestria were not able to exercise their right to vote. The high voter turnout of 69 per cent indicates confidence in the democratic process", said Dr. Kimmo Kiljunen, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office's Special Co-ordinator for the OSCE Election Observation Mission. "The voting and counting processes were carried out professionally, in accordance with the laws and regulations", added Mr. Bjorn von der Esch, Head of the Parliamentary Assembly delegation of the Council of Europe.

The Central Election Commission administered the elections in a non-partisan, transparent, efficient and timely manner. The Electoral Code provided an adequate framework for the conduct of democratic elections and ensured that political parties and electoral blocs could enter the political arena on an equal basis. State-owned media strictly followed the provisions of the Electoral Code.

The election process can, however, be further improved by addressing some shortcomings such as the inaccuracy and incompleteness of voter lists and the excessively restrictive media provisions in the Electoral Code.

Unfortunately, Parliamentary elections did not take place in Transdniestria, due to lack of co-operation of the de facto authorities. Eight special polling stations were set up on the right bank of the Nistru river for Transdniestrian residents to vote. Voting at these stations was conducted in a proper manner. However, only a very small percentage of the Moldovan citizens living in Transdniestria managed to exercise their right to vote.

The OSCE/ODIHR, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stand ready to continue their dialogue with the authorities and civil society of Moldova to address these remaining concerns.

Mission information

The International Election Observation Mission for the Parliamentary elections in Moldova is a joint effort of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Dr. Kimmo Kiljunen, Special Co-ordinator of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office for the election in Moldova, leads the OSCE Election Observation Mission. Mr. Bjorn von der Esch leads the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Ambassador Charles Magee heads the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission.

The preliminary statement is available on the ODIHR Website at www.osce.org/odihr.

For further information, please contact:

• Ambassador Charles Magee, Head of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission in Chisinau (+373 2 23 40 76);

• Ian Gorvin, Head of OSCE/ODIHR Monitoring and Public Affairs Section in Warsaw (+48 603 793 789);

• Paul LeGendre, Programme Officer of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Copenhagen (+ 45 33 37 80 40);

• Andreas Gross, Rapporteur, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, (+41 794 01 71 01);

• Angus Macdonald, Communication Unit of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg (+33 3 88 41 34 39).