{"id":17417,"date":"2019-02-08T11:09:41","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T10:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/?p=17417"},"modified":"2021-11-26T10:45:58","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T09:45:58","slug":"eu-urged-to-react-strongly-if-widespread-electoral-fraud-is-reported","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/hy\/eu-urged-to-react-strongly-if-widespread-electoral-fraud-is-reported\/","title":{"rendered":"EU urged to react strongly if widespread electoral fraud is reported"},"content":{"rendered":"

EU urged to react strongly if widespread electoral fraud is reported<\/h1>\n

The Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum is concerned about the prospect of Moldova being captured by oligarchic clans and having its constitutional institutions brought under their control. According to the organization, there is a high probability that the forthcoming election will mark a major step in this direction.<\/p>\n

According to a statement<\/a> issued in Brussels, the Steering Committee urges that the relevant institutions of the European Union react strongly if widespread electoral fraud is reported or if the election is invalidated, as \u00a0happened in Chisinau last year. Were this to be the case the EU should consider imposing sanctions against officials responsible for any such decision. The report on the election by observers from PACE as well as the European Parliament and from the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights will be important in this respect.<\/p>\n

The Committee calls on Moldova\u2019s judicial and electoral institutions to ensure that the country\u2019s citizens will be able to fully exercise their democratic rights. \u201cWe look to domestic and international observers to give a truthful account of the election campaign and the voting on election day,\u201d it stated.<\/p>\n

The Committee notes with concern a preliminary report by a group of election observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) who stated last month after a visit to\u00a0 Moldova that a number of long-standing concerns still remain unaddressed, such as cases of misuse of administrative resources, cases of distribution of electoral gifts during election campaign events involving charitable foundations associated with certain political parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also alarmed that the ruling Democratic Party and \u0218or Party have in the meanwhile sought to intimidate the Promo-Lex Association, by publicly questioning its professionalism and impartiality. Promo-LEX,\u00a0a Moldovan NGO which is a lead monitor of the electoral process and enjoys our full confidence, has denied these charges.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Statement on the situation before the parliamentary election in Moldova.<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n

Statement by the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum on the situation before the parliamentary election in Moldova<\/h3>\n

The forthcoming parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova on February 24 2019 must be conducted in a free and fair way. We \u00a0call on Moldova\u2019s judicial and electoral institutions to ensure that the country\u2019s\u00a0 citizens will be able to fully exercise their democratic rights. We look to domestic and international observers to give a truthful account of the election campaign and the voting on election day.<\/p>\n

We note with concern\u00a0 a preliminary report by a group of election observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) who stated last month after a visit to\u00a0 Moldova that: \u201cThe election campaign has \u00a0just started and political parties and candidates are in general able to campaign freely. Nevertheless, the delegation was informed by different interlocutors about a number of long-standing concerns which still remain unaddressed. In particular, cases of intimidation and violence against candidates; cases of hate speech, including against women candidates; cases of misuse of administrative resources; allegations of vote buying; cases of involvement of public employees in the signature collection procedure; cases of distribution of electoral gifts during election campaign events involving charitable foundations associated with certain political parties.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are also alarmed that the ruling Democratic Party and \u0218or Party have in the meanwhile sought to intimidate the Promo-Lex Association, \u00a0by publicly questioning its professionalism and impartiality. Promo-Lex, \u00a0a Moldovan NGO which is a lead monitor of the electoral process and enjoys our full confidence,\u00a0 has denied these charges.<\/p>\n

Last but not least, the Moldovan courts have set a dangerous precedent by invalidating the elections last summer in a final decision, when the election of the mayor of Chisinau was simply cancelled on spurious grounds.<\/p>\n

The Republic of Moldova faces the prospect of being captured by oligarchic clans and having its constitutional institutions brought under their control. There is a high probability that the forthcoming election will mark a major step in this direction.<\/p>\n

We urge that the relevant institutions of the European Union react strongly if widespread electoral fraud is reported or if the election is invalidated, as \u00a0happened in Chisinau last year. Were this to be the case the EU should consider imposing sanctions against officials responsible for any such decision. The report on the election by observers from PACE as well as the European Parliament and from the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights will be important in this respect.<\/p>\n

Bruxelles, 7 February 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EU urged to react strongly if widespread electoral fraud is reported The Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum is concerned about the prospect of Moldova being captured by oligarchic clans and having its constitutional institutions brought under their control. According to the organization, there is a high probability that the forthcoming election will mark a major step in this direction. According to a statement issued in Brussels,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":17418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"EU urged to react strongly if widespread electoral fraud is reported - Menschenrechte Osteuropa - News & Konflikte","description":"EU urged to react strongly if widespread electoral fraud is reported The Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum is concerned about th"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[218,497,529,587,236,112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bl-en","category-country-moldova-en","category-country-moldova-ru-en","category-country-moldova-en-3","category-moldawien-cat-en","category-moldova"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17417"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29338,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17417\/revisions\/29338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanrights-online.org\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}