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Christian-Democratic Peoples’ Party (CDPP) asked CEC to cancel its decision on registering Party of Communists’ candidate list on the grounds “persons in high rank positions at the national level enjoy an additional free-of-charge coverage in the media, therefore other electoral contestants are disadvantaged”. CDPP representative, lawyer Vitalie Nagacevschi brought that argument after Supreme Court of Justice had ruled in favour of PCRM demands to withdraw Mr. Nagacevschi’s right to represent CDPP in the CEC on the grounds that due to his membership in CEC with consultative vote he allegedly enjoyed additional media coverage, while being a candidate on the party candidate list.

Therefore, CDPP demands all to be equal under the law as it is provided in the RM Constitution. CDPP admits that their request would be ignored, which would only prove “once again the fact that CEC and judiciary are under total control of the Communist regime”.

Alexandru Petkov, spokesperson of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) accused Moldova Democrata Bloc (MDB) leader Serafim Urechean of “making use of administrative resources and being omnipresent in the Antena C radio news” in his capacity of Chisinau Mayor. He believes MDB does the same on the Municipal TV station, other newspapers that were “guilty of illegal electioneering”.

Petkov’s statement came in response to internal monitoring report made by Antena C showing that PCRM enjoyed the highest media coverage on that radio station. He indicated that the way the monitoring had been done “shows a total lack of professionalism”.

On the other hand, Mr. Petkov declined that the ruling party “enjoyed privileged media coverage in the media outlets controlled by the state authorities, especially Teleradio-Moldova”.

On January 31 Moldova Democrata Bloc (MDB) called on OSCE, Council of Europe, diplomatic missions accredited in the Republic of Moldova, domestic and international public opinion to monitor parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova.

The statement reads “in contrast to official engagements to guarantee free and fair elections, authorities increasingly make use of anti-democratic mechanisms of manipulating domestic and foreign public opinion. There are several types of abuses: a) Use of administrative resources in favour of the ruling party. Police, state security and other law enforcement forces continue to carry out political orders, persecuting and investigating opposition candidates; b) Obstructing legal electoral activities carried out by the Moldova Democrata Bloc. Representatives of the central and local government as well as law enforcement forces obstruct MDB’s meetings with the voters in the institutions they control. Police and security are overseeing voters’ meetings with opposition and intimidate them. Posting electoral ads has also been thwarted, etc; c) State controlled media promotes exclusively ruling party candidates. Exploiting their official status Communist candidates are largely covered in the state media, public and private TV and radio stations, in contrast to opposition which is denied this privilege; d) Delay in examining appeals submitted by the opposition on violations of the law. Central Electoral Commission and Audiovisual Coordinating Council ignore their obligation to prevent and sanction those violations in due time. Independence of justice is undermined when the Communist leader is appointing them”.

Therefore, MDB demands: a) speeding up the arrival of international observers to monitor the electoral campaign, including their presence at the meetings with the voters; b) Drawing the attention of the central government of the Republic of Moldova to their obligation to prevent violation of national and international norms, human rights and electoral rights.

Social-Democratic Party of Moldova hosted a press conference to report on numerous case of obstruction by police of electioneering and arrest of the party representative who were electioneering.