Congress highlights residence requirements at post-electoral conference in Chisinau

Chisinau, 5 October 2015

The importance of voters' lists for fair electoral processes was at the center of a post-electoral conference organised by the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Moldovan authorities on 5-6 October 2015 in Chisinau. Amy Koopmanschap (Netherlands, SOC), headed a delegation to observe the local vote on 14 June 2015 and was invited to present relevant recommendations from the Congress' perspective further to the electoral monitoring. In this context, she recognized the use of the State Automated Information System "Elections" (SAISE) which contributed, in principle, to improvements. However, the fact that citizens living de facto abroad are allowed to vote in local elections, if in the county on E-Day, was among the issues to be addressed. In accordance with its Resolution 378(2015), the Congress, for grassroots' elections, recommends to ensure a genuine link between a voter and the place in which he/she casts the ballot. This is of particular importance for a country like Moldova with about one million people living abroad and is in the interest of prevention of fraud and manipulation of voters", Koopmanschap stated and referred also to the the co-existence of "domicile" and "temporary residence" in the present Moldovan law and to questionable artificial movements of voters observed during the 2015 local elections. The draft Report and its recommendations will be debated and voted at the 29th Congress' Plenary on 21 October in Strasbourg.