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The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections in Moldova, to which EPDE member Promo-LEX contributes its election observation findings, has stated that the presidential elections of 1 and 15 November were "partially correct and free". This coalition of Moldovan CSOs and media organizations further state that several voters were unable to exercise their right to vote; the election campaigns was marked by hate speech and disinformation, as well as an unbalanced media coverage.

In our latest policy alert, we analyse how District Election Commissions failed to adequately respond to the substantive violations detected in the summary protocols aggravating public distrust over the electoral process. This, and other recorded violations sparked a public outcry calling for the resignation of the Chairman of the Central Election Commission and snap elections. Amidst these developments the Georgian authorities have unlawfully dispersed crowds using water cannons, amounting to an excessive use of force.

In the final monitoring report before presidential elections on this Sunday, 1 November, Promo-LEX reports on misuse of state resources, intimidation and presence of hate speech and incitement to discrimination in the contenders’ messages, electoral gifts, as well as the involvement of religious groups in the election campaign of a candidate. Promo-LEX observers also found deceased persons and wrong addresses in voter lists.

Ahead of the presidential election in Moldova, election observers have again called on the CEC to ensure that video observation of polling stations will be operational on the whole of Election Day. Due to continued restricted travel and other anti-COVID restrictions in place, it is impossible to conduct a full observation of all polling stations domestically or abroad, which has prompted a renewed debate about video cameras in polling stations to ensure the transparency of elections.

The Committee of Voters of Ukraine reports that the most serious problem by the end of voting yesterday was voter bribery. Bribing of voters to change their address to vote in a specific constituency was also reported, as well as instances of bussing voters to constituencies. The second major problem of Election Day were instances of falsifying the vote, including instances where voters were forced to vote, ballots went missing, or ballot papers having already been filled in before being issued to voters.

OPORA announced in its press conference on the eve of local elections that despite unequal distribution of anti-COVID provisions to polling stations and election commissions, there is still time for local authorities to fully comply with the standards set to counteract COVID19 during the elections. The last few days before the election was accompanied by typical abuses and violations, and incidents of foreign interference were investigated by OPORA and other experts.

Two weeks ahead of the presidential election, Promo-LEX reports increasingly more cases that can qualify as use of administrative resources, and an increase by 2.6 times in cases involving hate speech and incitement to discrimination. During the monitoring period (30 September – 13 October), there has been an upsurge in electoral events, as well as in cases where the restrictions imposed by the Extraordinary Territorial Commissions of Public Health were not observed.