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Audiovisual Coordinating Council (CCA) presented its first monitoring report of TV stations during the campaign for the presidential elections of October 30. The report was prepared in the period of September 30 to October 9, 2016 and included the monitoring of 14 national TV stations.

According to the report, several TV stations, namely Prime TV, Canal 2, Canal 3, Publika TV, Accent TV and NTV Moldova have openly favored certain electoral candidates. These TV stations have been issued a public warning, as decided unanimously by the CCA members. Another TV station, Jurnal TV was also liable to the same warning, but requested the possibility to come up with some additions to the report. The TV stations “Reality TV”, “TV 7”, “N4”, “RTR Moldova” and “Ren Moldova” had a relatively balanced coverage of the electoral period, without openly favoring any candidates, although in several cases related to conflict situations, they did not ensure that multiple sources have been consulted. Only television “Moldova 1” and “Pro TV Chisinau” had a fair and balanced coverage of the campaign events during the monitoring period. // media-azi.md

Presidential candidates have spent a total of about 32.5 million lei in the first two weeks of the election campaign, of which nearly half was spent by Democratic Party candidate, Marian Lupu. He spent during the first two weeks of the campaign nearly 15.4 million lei. The money was donated by over a thousand individuals — who donated for the Marian Lupu campaign amounts varying between a thousand and 50,000 lei. Following him in terms of expenses is “Our Party” candidate, Dumitru Ciubasenco with 4.5 million lei. The money comes from individuals and from the party that supports him. PPEM candidate, Iurie Leanca spent about three million lei, Igor Dodon — about 2.6 million, Mihai Ghimpu — about 2.6 million lei, Inna Popenco — 2.2 million lei, Silvia Radu — about 2 million, Maia Sandu — 80 thousand lei. // Radio Chisinau

Presidential candidate Marian Lupu, launched his electoral program entitled “European Moldova: strong and prosperous”. The program includes three main themes. The first one is the human capital of the country, which includes a focus on education, health, social security and family, culture and church, and connections with the Diaspora. The second theme is economy, attracting investments and providing facilities for the businesses and infrastructure development. The third theme focuses on consolidating state security.The event was attended by the Speaker Andrian Candu and Prime Minister Pavel Filip, MPs and DPM mayors as well as other party members. // realitatea.md

Presidential candidate Maia Sandu, accused PSRM, PCRM and PDM for the fact that on October 30, young people can only vote in the locality where they have their place of residence, not in the locality where they live on the E-day. In a press conference, Maia Sandu said that this is a gesture of discouragement for young people to go out to vote.

“In this election students have been set a trap. Young people who have their place of residence in the city where they are studying will be able to vote there, others will have to go to their hometowns, where they have the place of residence. It is seems that PDM, PCRM and PSRM do not want students to vote in these elections. They know that young people can not be bribed, can not be lied to and thus these parties try to obstruct students’ vote. (…) We call on Parliament to urgently review the voting procedure and allow students to vote in the locality where they pursue their studies” said Maia Sandu. // Unimedia

In a public address the Social Democratic Party has urged the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova as well as Our Party to put forward one candidate for the presidential elections of October 30. The party pointed to the fact that the presidential elections real competitors are Igor Dodon, Marian Lupu, Dumitru Ciubasenco and Maia Sandu. “The Social Democratic Party is worried about the lack of unity among the leftist parties, who always focused on the independence and sovereignty of Moldova, equity and social guarantees and improving social and economic relations with the Russian Federation”. Thus, in order to avoid voters dispersion in the presidential campaign, PSD called repeatedly on PSRM and PPPN to act responsibly and to put forward one candidate, “who will get the vote of all leftist parties supporters”. // IPN

Ecologist Green Party of Moldova (PVE) welcomes the decision of the three parties — PDA, PAS and LDPM — to have a common candidate in the presidential elections of October 30, 2016, considering it a crucial decision in consolidating the center-right political forces and the consolidation of the pro-European and pro unionist electorate. In their public appeal, PVE supports this move and the maturity of the political decision of the three political parties and welcomes their proposal to put forward Maia Sandu “as the sole candidate of all those who sincerely want Moldova to maintain its pro-Western vector and to become a full member among the civilized countries of the European Union”. Also PVE calls on the other presidential candidates who share European and unionist views — Ana Gutu, Mihai Ghimpu, Iurie Leanca, Marian Lupu, Valeriu Ghiletchi, Silvia Radu — to withdraw from the presidential race and form a broad front to strengthen and unify the electorate and the entire Moldovan society.

The presidential candidate Mihai Ghimpu, declared in a press-conference that the theft of a billion USD from the Moldovan banking system should be investigated by relevant US institutions, which have powers to conduct investigations internationally. The politician promised that when elected as head of state, he will submit such a request to the US authorities to authorize the investigation of the theft. Mihai Ghimpu said that there two years since information about the theft in the banking system has become public and, in his view, in a year all traces will be lost and after that it will be impossible to find the money. The politician says he has consulted experts and learned that FBI can conduct investigations internationally and, unlike Kroll, can seize the found money. // IPN

In an interview for All Moldova portal, first vice-president of Democratic Party of Moldova, Vlad Plahotniuc spoke about the chances of presidential candidates Maia Sandu and Igor Dodon. “Dodon is a real threat to Moldova and a man who insists to push forward his wrong and harmful ambitions. He’s not dangerous for me or PDM, we faced no problems so far, but he has an extraordinary capacity for manipulation and in csase of becoming president he may put the country on a very dangerous path. Maia Sandu, I think has a more correct vector, she speaks her mind, even if she thus makes often mistakes and is tricked by others and used in their wars, at least seems to be sincere and I did not see her promoting ideas harmful to the national interest. Maybe she would not be a good president, but I did not think she would do damage to the country. Whatever the case, I still continue to think that Moldova has to be led by a pro-European president” said the politician. // allmoldova.com