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The Straseni Law Court quashed on Friday, February 27 a previous verdict which sentenced Vorniceni mayor Gheorghe Ionel (member of the Moldova Noastra Alliance). According to a communication released by AMN, once the decision was pronounced, “supporters of Gheorghe Ionel did not quit the law court, as they realised that their mayor would be arrested again.” Further, a group of about 40 policemen “stormed the law court. The action developed into a brutal police assault by policemen on citizens, including women who were hit, thrust, and rent their clothes.” AMN considers that this incident should be regarded in the light of the ongoing electoral campaign. (Source: AMN communication)

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) annulled on Friday, February 27, a previous decision by the Constituency Electoral Council of the Chisinau municipality, which forewarned the information portal Unimedia regarding the alleged violation of electoral legislation. Eight out of 9 CEC members decided to turn down what it called groundless demand by the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova to sanction Unimedia. (Source: Unimedia)

The Actiunea Europeana (European Action) Movement (MAE) has decided to provide free legal assistance to journalists from the Nisporeni-based TV station Albasat in order to protect their rights. As well, MAE is ready to provide free legal advisory to all journalists from Moldova who faced attempts to be intimidated. It is the time to defend our freedom of expression and right to live in a safe, European country. (Source: MAE communication)

The Institute for Public Policy (IPP) opens an auction to select two institutions which will be funded to conduct an exit poll on April 5, 2009. The purpose of the poll is to provide an evaluation of final results of the general elections for Moldovan Parliament to the public, in conditions controlled by statistical error. Such exit polls were also conducted during the 2005 parliamentary elections and 2007 local elections in the Chisinau municipality. (Source: IPP press release)

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) registered two more electoral candidates on Friday, February 27. Thus, independent candidate Stefan Uratu will be the No.13 and the Ecologic Party of Moldova "Alianta Verde" (Green Alliance) will be the No.14 in ballot papers. Stefan Uratu told journalists after being registered that he joined the electoral campaign to ensure a more efficient protection of human rights, inclusively in prisons, and to contribute to the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict. Alianta Verde chairman Vladimir Braga said that his party wants to ensure “a clean environment in a prosperous country.”

Moldovan nationals from other countries will be able to vote on April 5 on the basis of the identity documents needed to enter or leave a country (national, service or diplomatic passport), inclusively expired, or on the basis of sailor’s identity paper. These regulations are part of the instruction concerning the organisation and conduct of the April 5 parliamentary elections within polling stations outside of Moldova, adopted by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) on Friday. Under the instruction, diplomatic missions will estimate the possible number of voters in order to ask “a sufficient number of ballot papers” from CEC, though an express norm of the Election Code says that maximum 5 percent of ballot papers over the number of people included in voters’ rolls shall be sent. CEC members had controversy talks on this issue and they failed a consensus, being approved with a majority of votes.

The Balti Municipal Council approved composition of constituency electoral bureaus on Thursday. Thus, 59 polling stations will open in Balti for the April 5 parliamentary elections. Of them, two will function in Sadovoe and Elizaveta, two suburbs of the Balti municipality. (Source: Deca-Press)

The international public organisation Patria Moldova supports and is ready to help formal and informal organisations of fellow countrymen from other countries to exercise their right to vote at the April 5 parliamentary elections. According to a statement, Patria Moldova describes the refusal to open supplementary polling stations abroad as “a brutal violation of human rights and a criminal inaction, which CEC and Moldovan Government have committed for several years under the lead of PCRM and its leader Vladimir Voronin.” Patria Moldova calls upon international organisations which monitor the electoral campaign “to measure correspondingly these anti-democratic actions.” (Source: Infotag)

The chairman of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, has stated that his party will compete for at least a parliamentary majority at the April 5 elections, but a constitutional majority would be ideally. Voronin delivered such a statement to the Russian newspaper Kommersant. He noted that the Constitution of Moldova should be essentially modified to settle the Transnistrian conflict. As regards the scheduled meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, Voronin said that he expects an appraisal of the law on legal status of the Transnistrian region, “which neither Russia nor Transnistria gave it officially to us so far.” Voronin criticised the European Union’s Eastern Partnership initiative, saying that “it looks like a circle around Russia.” (Sources: Omega; Infotag)