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The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) reminds that the voting certificates can be taken from the offices of the polling stations until July 28 inclusive. Under the electoral legislation, the persons that will not be in the settlement where they live or have residence on the Election Day can ask for a certificate allowing them to vote from the bureau of the polling station between July 14 and July 28, 2009. The certificate is issued on the basis of the identity card, the passport or another identification paper. It enables the voters to cast their ballots in any of the polling stations set up in the country. Under the Election Code, the students that have temporary residence visas in dormitories can vote at the polling station that is closest to their dormitory. In order to vote at another polling station, including at the permanent place of residence, the students must apply for a voting certificate to the bureau of the polling station opened in the area where they permanently live. (Info-Prim Neo)

The Civil Initiative “For a Clean Parliament”, uniting seven profiled non-governmental organizations, has published a list of 38 parliamentary candidates, who fail to meet the Initiative’s criteria of decency, namely these persons are claimed to be involved in instances of corruption, political inconstancy, are responsible for Moldova’s systematic defeats in the European Court of Human Rights etc. Dumitru Lazur, a representative of the Civil Initiative told a news conference today that 28 of the 38 candidates represent the ruling Party of Communists. The list includes also 4 candidates from the Moldova Noastra Alliance, two candidates from the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova, two from the Democratic Party and one for each the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party. The Civil Initiative considered the decency of candidates from only those parties which, according to recent opinion polls, have chances for winning seats in the next parliament. The list is available on the web page www.moldovacurata.md and has been printed in 200 thousand copies, which are already being distributed among citizenry. (Infotag)

In the July 29 early elections, in 200 polling stations will be carried out the survey of voters after casting their ballots. The exit poll will be organized by the Institute for Public Policy through the agency of two sociological companies — the Marketing and Polling Institute (IMAS) and CBS AXA. The persons that have already voted will be asked questions as to their age, education and ethnicity. Afterward, they will receive the questionnaire to mark the party that they voted for. The filled out questionnaire will be put into a special box. The anonymity of the voters will be guaranteed. The exit poll is designed to contribute to the holding of free and fair elections in Moldova. The first exit poll results will be presented at 21.05, five minutes after the polling stations are closed. The final results will be announced in an hour. (Info-Prim Neo)

Three TV stations committed deviations from the legal requirements concerning the broadcasters’ behavior in the election campaign. Observers under the aegis of the Electronic Press Association (APEL) told a news conference on July 21, that the broadcasters in question are N4 — had aired hidden advertising in the favor of the Party of Communists, NIT — broadcast electoral advertising in a newscast and EuTV — ran ads of an electoral contestants more than the due 120 seconds a day. The authority regulating the area — the Audiovisual Coordinating Council (CCA) — has not penalized any broadcaster during the on-going race for the July 29 parliamentary elections. On Tuesday, APEL announced the results of a new monitoring report of the main televisions from Chisinau from July 1 through 14, 2009. In their newscasts, EuTV, Moldova 1, N4 and NIT massively covered, in a positive context, the representatives of the government, and in a negative context — the opposition’s representatives. Prime, Pro TV, TV7 and TVC21 did not favor or disfavor political actors. A press release distributed at the conference reads that the results of monitoring the televisions in the first 14 days of July show that the politicians are treated differently in terms of quantity and quality. Certain progress has been noticed in covering the political actors in a more balanced manner on most of the observed televisions. (Info-Prim Neo)

The electoral lists are not accurate and have not been posted on time; the voters in the Transnistrian region remain outside the election process, while the public posts and resources continue to be used for electoral purposes, say observers of Promo-LEX Association. The findings are presented in the second monitoring report of the July 29 parliamentary elections carried out between July 11 and 20. Promo-LEX, which usually monitors Moldova’s Transnistrian region, during the current electoral campaign also supervises the electoral process in a number of districts located on the right bank of the Nistru, where polling places are traditionally set up for Transnistrian voters, namely Floresti, Rezina, Dubasari, Anenii Noi, Causeni, and Stefan Voda. “As in the previous report of July 14, Promo-LEX established that the electoral contestants do not observe or partially observe the legislation”, Promo-Lex president Ion Manole told a news conference on July 21. Besides ordinary violations, the Association found out cases when the monitoring process was hindered. (Info-Prim Neo)

The public movement Edinaya Gagauzia (United Gagauzia) has expressed its concern over the methods used by the government authorities to intimidate the president of the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) from Gagauzia Stepan Piron. Members of the movement call on the leaders of political parties, the OSCE Mission in Moldova, the EU Special Representative for Moldova Kalman Miszei and the mass media to help stop the illegal actions by the PCRM against Stepan Piron so as to contribute to a fair election campaign for finding a national consensus in the future. In a press release, Edinaya Gagauzia says that a number of illegal actions were taken against Piron on July 16, including the filming of his house and his family. Edinaya Gagauzia considers that all these illegal acts are connected with the professional activity of Stepan Piron, who has lately spoken about the violations committed by the PCRM. (Info-Prim Neo)

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) will send 64,941 ballots to Moldova’s diplomatic missions abroad. The embassies have officially registered 17,500 voters. CEC secretary Iurie Ciocan stated at the CEC’s sitting on July 21 that more voting ballots are sent to avoid speculations and situations when more people will turn out to vote than the ones registered. Compared to the April 5 elections, the CEC will issue 1,900 more ballots. Then, 16,800 Moldovans went to vote at the Moldovan embassies and consulates. At the same sitting, the CEC has decided to make 2,000 seals with the inscription “Retras” (“Withdrawn”) to be applied on the ballots next to the candidates who will have leaved the race and “Anulat” (“Canceled”) to be applied on the ballots unused on the Election Day. (Info-Prim Neo)

The Party of Communists is the only party which is represented most by ethnic minorities in Moldova, say representatives of national minorities from Moldova. According to an appeal approved on Tuesday during a meeting between representatives of ethno-cultural organisations and PCRM chairman Vladimir Voronin, they invite all electors to participate in the July 29 elections and prove their civic maturity by voting for the building and true democracy — for the PCRM. Vladimir Voronin gratified representatives of ethno-cultural organisations for supporting the ruling party. The leader of the Moldovan Communists assured that the PCRM has never grouped the citizens of the country on social, ethnic, confessional or linguistic criteria. And this is also a great distinction. (Moldpres)

The Liberal Party (PL), the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) and the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) have appealed to the democratic electorate to “get mobilized for the July 29 elections”. PL Chairman Mihai Ghimpu stated at a news conference today that each voter must persuade minimum one more person into casting ballots for one of the three opposition parties in question. AMN leader Serafim Urechean stated the three parties had never betrayed their voters, and had always acted in the voters’ interests. PLDM leader Vlad Filat said the forthcoming elections are essential not only for running parties but also for citizens who want to live in a free and democratic Moldova. “Last June 3, we refused to vote for a communist president and thus won a victory. Yet the victory is insufficient at the moment. Now the vote of every citizen is crucial”, Vlad Filat said. (Infotag)

The Liberal Party, the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova and the Moldova Noastra Alliance have ruled out whatever possibility of their post-election cooperation with the Democratic Party of Moldova and its new leader, former Communist Chairman of the Moldovan Parliament, Marian Lupu. The three parties regard Lupu as “a Communist project”. PLDM leader Vlad Filat stated at the news conference today the three parties stand ready for cooperation with only such parties and leaders who pursue national interests, not personal ones. In his words, politics is made by people having a firm character, “while Marian Lupu failed to demonstrate firmness when it was really necessary to. He did not lift a finger to curb bruising and torturing of children in police stations. And he did not interfere to bridle passions during the last April’s violence”. PL leader Mihai Ghimpu and AMN leader Serafim Urechean illustrated Marian Lupu’s coming into active politics with national sayings such as “The farther the wolf, the better for the village”, “Give the wolf the best food, but he would hanker for the wood”, and the like, thus hinting at the very name, lupu, which means wolf in Romanian. They also mocked at Marian Lupu’s desire to become President of Moldova one day. The three party leaders presume there is no particular point in focusing on the presidential post, which is not so important in a parliamentary republic. So if Moldovans cannot elect their national leader by a direct vote, they can achieve this by voting for a political party. (Infotag)

“The problem of provision of dwellings to the population can be solved only by political will,” the PPCD candidate for MP Igor Ciuru said at a news conference on July 21. “The lack of homes is the major cause why the young families go aboard to work,” he said. The PPCD candidates suggest modifying the Dwelling Code dating from 1993, working out a national strategy for providing the population with houses, and obliging the local public authorities in towns, especially in Chisinau municipality, to allocate plots to young specialists to build private houses, as the village authorities do. They consider that the state policies must be aimed at providing the young families with high salaries at home, while the banks should release preferential loans repayable in 40 years at an interest rate of 10% at most. (Info-Prim Neo)

Political parties have spent 9,762,000 lei for the current election campaign so far. This amount was assessed by the financial report on incomes and spending of electoral contestants in the current campaign released by CEC. The Central Electoral Commission warned the Liberal Party for not presenting financial reports. In its turn, the party says that it has presented the reports but after the deadline. According to the financial report, the Democratic Party of Moldova has spent the most until now — 3.1 million lei, followed by the Party of Communists with 2.2 million lei and Moldova Noastra (Our Moldova) Alliance — 2.0 million lei. The Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova has spent more than one million lei, followed by the Christian Democratic People’s Party with 732,000 lei and Social Democratic Party with 159,000 lei. CEC warned the Liberal Party, Actiunea Europeana (European Action) Movement and the Ecological Party of Moldova “Alianta Verde (Green Alliance)”. (Unimedia.md)