IRI Observation Mission says elections in Moldova held with unprecedented interferences from abroad through buying votes

Chisinau, 21 October /MOLDPRES/ - The presidential elections and the republican constitutional referendum on Moldova’s accession to the European Union from 20 October were held with unprecedented interferences from abroad, which occurred through the purchasing of votes. Observers of the International Republican Institute (IRI), on an observation mission in Moldova, have drawn this conclusion.     
„These elections were unprecedented through the interference from abroad, the foreign influence which was expressed through the buying of votes. Many of Moldova’s citizens worked with Shor, provokers were trained; there were mass manipulations and false propaganda, illegal financings of political parties, cyber attacks against the state’s institutions and other illegal activities. This foreign interference and the purchasing of votes, the vote schemes and the involvement in the work of the local commissions changed the vote of the electors together. These actions led to the lack of transparence of the electoral process,’’ Steve Nix from IRI said.      
The observers do not rule out that the foreign interference would continue in the runoff elections too. Analyzing the drawbacks of the ballot’s holding, the IRI observers said that data by the State Register of the Voter were not synchronized with the government’s database and the candidates’ electoral campaigns were, to a great extent, ‘’digitalized.’’    
At the same time, the observers say that Moldova has a competent electoral system, highlighting the activity of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), as well as the society’s interest in these elections, as a large number of citizens came to the ballot.  
IRI comes up with recommendations for Moldova’s authorities, in order strengthen the state’s institutions, enhance the resilience to the attacks from abroad and transparentize the electoral process: 
- updating and maintaining the integrity of the State Register of the Voter, the initiation of a commission of experts for the settlement of complex problems;   
- counteraction of the foreign malignant influence through backing the initiative nationally and locally, endowing the non-governmental institutions and the state ones, in order to cope with the threats of the foreign regimes against the democracy;  
- CEC should extend the procedure of voting by correspondence in more countries; should allow the citizens to participate in the electoral process;
- Moldova’s government should ensure the judicial integrity through calling to account of offenders, in accordance with the law and through empowering the authorities to follow and investigate foreign actors, who try to compromise the electoral processes and campaigns;  
- combating the illicit financing through continuing the actions of counteracting the threats triggered by the financing from abroad and enhancement of the state’s institutions’ capacities;    
- Moldova’s government must extend the jurisdiction of the Audiovisual Council, in order to cover a wide range of platforms, protecting information system of Moldova from the malignant influence;
The IRI’s observation mission carried out its work at 32 polling stations, observing the electoral process in all regions of Moldova.
The observers will continue their activity at the runoff election.
Presidential elections and a republican constitutional referendum on Moldova’s accession to the European Union took place in Moldova on 20 October.