alegeri.md

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) declared invalid the constitutional republican referendum of 5 September 2010, on the grounds that it was attended by less than one third of the voters included in voter lists. According to the summary minutes of the September 5, 2010 republican constitutional referendum , the poll was attended by 818,429 voters or 30.29 percent of the number of people registered on the electoral lists (estimated at 2,662,052 persons).Other totals made by the CEC:

• number of citizens included in supplementary lists — 59,571;
• 19,705 voters voted abroad;
• 1,471 citizens voted with expired IDs;
• 825 people voted based on provisional ID F-9;
• 5,402 citizens voted based on voting certificates;
• 1,531 people voted in polling stations opened for Moldovan citizens residing in some localities from the left bank of Nistru, in municipality Bender and some localities of Causeni district.

CEC also approved the report on its activities regarding the organization of the republican constitutional referendum of September 5, 2010, submitted to the RM Constitutional Court. The report contains information about the actions taken by CEC during electoral period and on the Referendum Day (21 sessions were held, 247 decisions were adopted), information about received complaints (10) and their resolution (one complaint was partially accepted, three were rejected as unfounded and one was taken as a note and submitted to the competent body to be investigated and resolved), information about financial statements of the participants in the referendum (some participants had not submitted reports and this information was sent to the Ministry of Justice so as to take the attitude), complaints and petitions from citizens (50 notifications), other inherent issues (electoral observation, testing, surveys). (CEC decision no.3532 dated on 09.09.2010)

CEC adopted a decision on preparing the electoral lists, due to “the need to prepare for early parliamentary elections”. Under this decision, the mayors, starting with 13th of September 2010, will organize the preparation of voter lists for each polling station, in two copies, including all citizens with voting right, who are currently home or reside in their range. In particular it shall be drawn attention to listing the people currently turning 18 years and excluding the deceased ones by the date of establishing the electoral lists. The prepared lists shall be checked at the voters’ address. They shall be signed by the mayor and shall be kept within the mayoralty. After the preparation, an electronic copy shall be forwarded to the Central Electoral Commission’s e-mail address. Each voter list, submitted electronically, shall be named according to the number of electoral constituency and number of the polling station according to their numbering on the referendum of 5 September. (CEC decision no. 3529 as of 09.09.2010)

At its first session after the vacation, the members of the parliamentary majority passed a draft law that requires amending and supplementing the Electoral Code, together with other several related laws. The main amendments voted on first reading refer to:

• voting particularities for students and pupils, who may vote at any polling station in the locality in which the educational institution were they are enrolled is placed, under certain conditions: presentation of the identity document, presentation of student card, signing a liability statement confirming that s/he was warned about criminal liability for multiple voting;
• introduction of new elements for the crime of falsifying the electoral results (multiple voting, false);
• sanctioning the production or distribution of electoral advertising materials without providing the identification/counting data;
• possibilities for CEC to avoid certain stages of public consultation in decision making process during electoral period, when usual procedures are not applicable due to the fixed deadline stipulated by law.

Ex-Minister of Security, Anatol Plugaru, and Chairman of the Centrist Union of Moldova, Mihai Petrache, urged the citizens in a press conference to hold accountable the Alliance for European Integration (AEI) for the failure of the referendum. Anatol Plugaru and Mihai Petrache argue that distrust of the population towards AEI is the reason for non-participation of the citizens in the referendum.