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On Wednesday, April 15, in all polling stations will take place the April 5 ballot recount. The Secretary of Central Electoral, Iurie Ciocan said that early in the morning on April 15, armed police teams delivered the ballot papers from local courts, where they were kept heretofore, to polling stations. “During the day, the papers will be re-counted, recounting protocols drawn up and signed, after which the papers will be brought back to the courts, and protocols — over to constituency election commissions. Like on April 5, the recount procedure involves approximately 20 thousand workers”, has mentioned Ciocan. According to him, constituency election commissions must deliver the protocols to the Central Election Commission in Chisinau by Wednesday evening, or not later than on early morning of April 16. The ballots are being recounted in the presence of observers that were accredited for the elections, including a part of international observers who have managed to come back to Moldova. No recounting is under way at those 33 polling stations that were opened at Moldovan diplomatic missions abroad. (Source: Infotag)

Leaders of the three centre-right parties which entered the Parliament accordingly to CEC accounts have provided evidence that the April 5 elections were falsified via voter rolls. Mihai Ghimpu from the Liberal Party (PL), Vlad Filat from the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) and Serafim Urecheanu from the “Moldova Noastra” (Our Moldova) Alliance (AMN) told a press conference on Wednesday, April 15 that the decision of the Chisinau Court of Appeal to restrict their access to electoral lists “was the decision of the Party of Communists” indeed. Anyway, the three parties succeeded to make copies of many voter rolls from rayons on which basis they may find “fraud trends”. According to Vlad Filat, 28 out of 65 polling stations in the rayon of Cahul have been checked which is 43 percent, and 2,334 frauds have been discovered that means 10.6 percent of the votes. The three leaders suppose that between 10 and 30 percent of the overall votes have been falsified. PL leader Mihai Ghimpu stated: “The right step now is to deliver the first evidence to the CEC and seek an extended term for checking of voter rolls. They will not accept without evidence.” The politicians presented documents to journalists intended to prove that 5,166 people have cast their ballots at more than one polling station, 3,280 voted with the same personal code, 1,600 persons voted on the basis of other documents than identity cards and 1,000 signatures have been forged. (Source: Info-Prim)

The Centru law court of the Chisinau municipality has decided to expel the director of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Alex Grigorievs, from Moldova. The lawyer of Grigorievs, Costel Tanase, said that the court has invoked the illegal staying of the US citizen in Moldova. Tanase has plans to sue this decision in the Court of Appeal. The NDI director was escorted by Interior Ministry officers to the Migration Bureau of the Interior Ministry on April 14 and accused of illegally staying in Moldova. He stays in Moldova since 2004. His stay permit expired in September 2008 and he applied for an extended term in August. “Since, he was assured that his documents were issued and he will get them soon. He has earlier discussed with Andrei Stratan inclusively, while now he is charged with illegally staying in Moldova.” (Source: Jurnal de Chisinau)

Thirty-five international media organisations including 25 members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) have released a joint declaration in which they express concern about degradation of the media situation in Moldova following parliamentary elections on 5 April 2009. This included the violation of the right of access to public information, and harassment of journalists. The signatory organisations protest vehemently against attacks on journalists by representatives of the law, and demand an immediate end to these abusive and illegal practices, as well as an investigation into these cases to bring to account those responsible for abuses against journalists. (Source: Deca-press)

The Ministry of Information Development claims that the accusations brought by some political parties regarding the introduction of dead people in voter rolls are groundless, as these rolls are issued and checked by local public authorities. “Under the law, the electoral lists shall be issued by local public authorities. These lists which contain information about citizens registered with a certain territorial unit shall not be issued just before elections but also for daily work for various purposes,” the deputy service providing director-general of the State Company Registru, Vasile Ciornii, has told a press conference. “When issuing these lists, the authorities may use many tools to update the data, inclusively by officially applying to Registru,” Ciornii added. In the context, he emphasised that the State Company Registru just provides the authorities involved in the electoral process with the complete database on identity data of Moldovan population, including information about deaths. Ciornii assured that people could not cast their ballots more than once or on the basis of different annexes to identity cards since their expiry terms must be confirmed through coincidence of the single number of the identity card. (Source: Omega)

The incumbent prime minister of the Czech Republic, the chair of the European Union, Mirek Topolanek, will visit Chisinau on April 22 to collect facts about developments in Moldova at the scene. The visit was announced during a telephone conversation with Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin. The chief of state assured that the Moldovan authorities are interested to provide true and multilateral information about developments in Moldova, saying that the state leadership is open in this regard, according to a presidential press release. The chief of state told the European official that the state authorities are ready to organise bilateral meetings with Moldovan officials, leaders of opposition parties and representatives of law enforcement bodies from Moldova. (Source: Omega)

The director general for democracy and political affairs, Louis Laurens, will visit Chisinau to report the situation related to violation of human rights by the Moldovan authorities, Council of Europe (CoE) Secretary-General Terry Davis said on Wednesday. “During the last few days, we have received very mixed news from Moldova. On the one hand, I am encouraged by the proposal to check electoral lists and recount the votes. This should help to calm the post-election controversy,” Mr. Davis stated. “On the other hand, I am very concerned about alleged breaches of human rights with alleged detention of large numbers of people, including children, and restrictions on the freedom of media. Against this background, I have asked Jean-Louis Laurens, the Director General for Democracy and Political Affairs of the Council of Europe, to travel to Chisinau immediately and report on situation in the country,” the CoE secretary-general said. (Source: Interlic)

The young people detained after the last week’s protests complain that they have been subjected to very cruel treatments: they were beaten, denied food and given only limited access to water and basic sanitary facilities. At the same time, the detainees said that they were forced to sign documents and they had not read, according to a UN representative to Moldova. UN human rights adviser Edwin Berry visited the Chisinau-based Prison No. 13 on Saturday, April 11, where a part of the young people held after the protests in Moldova are being kept. Berry met 40 out of 90 detainees involved in the social riots last weeks and stressed that the evidence that they have been subjected to inappropriate treatments is “abundant” and “evident”. “All detainees had traces of beating on their bodies,” Berry said. “Most of them told me that they were beaten up in the police stations or the general police commissariat with wooden sticks, punching and kicking, that they were thrown to the ground and beaten with water bottles” Berry revealed. (Source: Unimedia)

President Vladimir Voronin has chaired a working sitting with participation of heads of the Parliament, Government, decision-makers of some law enforcement institutions and discussed the situation following the April 7 violent protests. The chief of state informed the audience about his conversations with European and international officials regarding the violent demonstrations in Chisinau, consequences of those actions and measures to redress the situation. Voronin announced the European Commission’s decision to deploy an expert group to Moldova at the request of authorities in order to collect facts on situation in the country at the scene. Participants in the sitting welcomed this decision, stressing the necessity of informing the international opinion fairly and unbiased from certain formal sources, as regards the massive violent protests held on April 7. Voronin instructed the heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, parliamentary commission for foreign policy and European integration to use all opportunities to present the real state of things in Moldova to EU heads of state, European and international institutions, the OSCE and PACE first of all. He asked the Interior Ministry, Prosecutor-General’s Office, other law enforcement bodies to present an ample and well-detailed analysis of the April 6–7 events in Chisinau at all stages of organisation and conduct of these actions. As well, the chief of state ordered adequate measures to prevent such situations in future and annihilate causes and conditions of anti-state actions, massive disorder and crimes. (Source: Moldpres)

Leaders of the four parties which entered the Parliament after the April 5 elections shall work on the national conciliation. The European Union Special Representative, Kalman Mizsei, has made this statement for the media. He said that leaders of the four parties (Party of Communists, Liberal Party, Liberal Democratic Party and “Moldova Noastra” Alliance) shall build the working bodies of the parliament, approve the government and think about what to do with the country further. It is very important now for these politicians to stop using a “wrong vocabulary” while describing each other. According to Mizsei, the international community in general and the European Union in particular will do their best to bring Moldova back to a normal life. “The basis of democracy on which the press freedom is built will be preserved in Moldova,” while the EU will do its best to conciliate the participants in the conflict. Leaders of the parties shall make the parliament accordingly to the April 5 election results and make working conditions for main state institutions. “This is important for Moldova in terms of the world economic crisis which hits her economy,” said Mizsei, advising the Moldovan people to accept a solution to this situation which follows the April 5 elections. Mizsei hinted that the EU office in Chisinau he heads is working to open a constructive political dialogue between the conflicting parties aimed to redress the situation. Speaking about the first step forward peace, Mizsei hinted that it will be made from outside. He fell short of revealing other details, but noted that the conflicting sides could meet the next days with participation of international high-ranking guests. “And the first step in this direction was already done,” Mizsei said, adding that it was made within the active participation and cooperation of the EU official representative’s office to Moldova. (Source: Infotag)