alegeri.md

Central Electoral Commission (CEC) registered the Electoral Bloc “The Third Force” as an electoral competitor for general local elections to be held on 5th of June 2011.The electoral bloc is constituted by the Party “Moldova Unita — Единая Молдова (United Moldova)”, the Social-political Movement “New Force” and the Republican People’s Party. Previously, it was announced that the parties will nominate the candidacy of Valeriu Plesca (Chairman of the Movement “New Force”) for the mayor office of Chisinau municipality.

CEC approved the pattern of ballot for local elections of June 5, 2011 and decided on various distinctive colours:

• pink — for elections of mayors of the administrative-territorial units of 1st level;
• purple — for elections of mayors of Chisinau and Balti municipalities;
• gray — for elections of the councils of villages, communes, towns, municipalities;
• tan — for elections of district councils and the councils of Chisinau and Balti municipalities.

The colours were chosen based on the international classification of colours, and they were used in local elections in 2003 and 2007.

Ballots’ texts will be approved by constituency electoral councils, once the registration of candidates is over.

Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC) voted for sanctioning with a public warning four TV channels and six radio stations, because they failed to submit statements on their involvement or non-involvement in the electoral campaign for local elections of June 5. Until now, the statements on the coverage of the June 5 election campaign were so far submitted by 78 broadcasters (43 TV and 35 radio stations). Of these, 36 TV and 21 radio stations announced they will organize electoral debates, 2 TV and 4 radio stations have announced their non-involvement in the campaign. According to the statements posted on BCC website the most expensive electoral advertising will be on the following media outlets:

• PRIME TV — 5000 EUR per minute;
• 2 Plus — between 680 and 1120 EUR per minute;
• Pro TV — 540 EUR per minute.

With the assistance of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the Council of Europe, CEC has started training the electoral officials for general local elections of 5 June 2011 by conducting a seminar with the participation of chairpersons and secretaries of the councils of the constituency of districts / municipalities / TAU Gagauzia which will be held on 20–21 April 2011.The following issues are among those to be discussed: responsibilities of electoral councils; receiving the documents submitted for candidates’ registration; preparation of ballots; examining and resolving complaints; summing up the votes; the procedure of providing the mandates.

Training seminars for judges are organized by the National Institute of Justice in cooperation with CEC and with support provided by the East European Foundation .Seminars are being held at the courts of appeal for the judges within their constituencies and covers issues such as: international standards for elections; ECHR case law in electoral issues and related areas; settlement of electoral disputes; the right for information in the elections etc.