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The information department of the Russian Foreign Ministry has released a comment on preliminary results of the general local elections in Moldova. It indicates the trend of the “truncated” OSCE/ODIHR mission, sought to smooth over, and even hush up evidence of numerous violations, such as electoral law manipulation before the elections, the printing of ballots in quantities far exceeding the number of voters, problems related to the counting of votes in the Chisinau municipality. The Russian Foreign Ministry fears that all these facts raise serious questions, including about the degree of objectivity of those who volunteered to evaluate the state of the democratic processes there. (Source: www.mid.ru)

The Electronic Press Association (APEL) has released the results of the monitoring on coverage of the electoral campaign for local elections by the National Public Broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova. According to APEL experts, Teleradio-Moldova respected the legal and deontological norms while covering the electoral process, provided a broad coverage of electoral process and generally respected legal and conduct regulations. This way, Teleradio-Moldova reconfirmed the trend of becoming a public broadcaster, observed at the 2010 elections. The APEL monitoring was carried out during May 1 — June 5 with the support of the Soros-Moldova Foundation as part of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections.

The governor of the administrative territorial unit Gagauzia, Mihail Formuzal, is confident that the local elections in the Gagauz autonomy fit the European standards, were absolutely free, and the administration did not obstruct candidates who ran for offices of mayors and councillors, as no complaints were recorded. Formuzal thinks that the central authorities received a signal from Gagauzia regarding the “parade of independent candidates”, because:

• 14 mayors were elected in the first round, of them 79 percent are independent candidates;
• Half of candidates running for the runoff vote (12 localities) are independent;
• More than 35 percent of those elected to councils are independent.

According to Formuzal, independent candidates have a simple logic: it’s better to join efforts and to do something useful for people than to make union against parties and keep fighting. Asked to comment the re-election of Comrat mayor Nicolai Dudoglo, who competed with Formuzal for the office of Gagauz governor, Formuzal said that “if voters like the way the local administration works, the Bashkan (governor) must be happy, too.” Formuzal recalled his initiative seeking the right of Gagauzia to have regional parties, so that to participate in regional elections and make alliances with republican parties at general elections.

The parallel counting of the votes by Promo-LEX Association at the June 5 elections was closest to the CEC results, while the surveys which indicated other results than those released by CEC were wrong because voters were afraid of telling the truth. Promo-LEX chairman Ion Manole delivered these statements at a news conference. He supposed that polls are designated for free societies and their results in Moldova prove that our society is not free yet.

Igor Dodon, PCRM candidate for Chisinau mayor, has told a TV programme that there is clear evidence that his rival Dorin Chirtoaca is directly funded “by a jigger”. Dodon felt short of revealing the name of the sponsor, but PL staff members assured in turn that his statements are clear evidence of a campaign based on lies and inventions, like in the first round.

The political nature of the assassination of Igor Turcanu, staff head of the electoral campaign of independent candidate Mihai Godea, will be also considered as part of criminal investigations. This statement was delivered after a sitting with security bodies convoked by interim President Marian Lupu. Lupu said that he has instructed competent organs to carry out an unbiased, professional, fair inquest in a reasonable term. According to the press service of the Prosecutor-General’s Office, a criminal investigation action plan was worked out and several versions of what had happened are being considered. The penal inquest is based on Article 145 of the Criminal Code on assassination charges.