27 April 2023
The Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE), in partnership and with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, organized on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, the second public debate of this year in the #EUDebatesCafe format, with the title: “Organization of the elections for the position of Baskan of Gagauzia: challenges and priorities for the electoral authorities”.
The invited speakers at the event, which was moderated by Victoria Nemerenco, coordinator of Europeanization, Foreign Policy and Security program at IPRE, spoke about the competences of the electoral bodies at the national and regional level in terms of the organization of the election for the position of Baskan of Găgauzia and the new provisions of the Electoral Code on the organization of the electoral process in the UTA Gagauzia, as well as the current challenges and priorities for the electoral authorities in the context of the process of organizing the elections for the position of baskan, but also monitoring the electoral campaign and its financing by the electoral competitors. Mention: The representatives of the Electoral Commission from UTA Gagauzia were also invited to participate at the debate, however they announced their inability to participate at the event.
Below, we propose some of the main interventions of the speakers.
Alexandru Berlinschii, Secretary, Central Electoral Commission: “In the new provisions of the Electoral Code, the Central Electoral Council of UTA Gagauzia is the supreme electoral body in organizing these elections, respectively, their presence at this debate and telling us how the organization of the elections took place would have been welcome. Thus, according to the provisions of the new Electoral Code, in title 5, more precisely article 155, those particularities of organizing regional elections are indicated. Here the code comes to clarify which laws are taken into account in the organization of this election, as well as how the financial reports of the electoral competitors are monitored, and how those electoral lists are drawn up. It also regulates the manner of submitting appeals, as well as which are the competent bodies for their examination, but also on the part of accreditation of international observers. On all these aspects, apart from international observers, our colleagues from the territory are responsible. Moreover, in the Final and Transitional Provisions Chapter, these, which are currently found in the Electoral Code on the part related to the organization of regional elections, will enter into force on January 1, 2024. Now, if we talk about the powers of the CEC for organization of this election, I mention the statistical data regarding the accreditation of international observers. To date, more than 50 international observers appointed by 10 embassies operating in the Republic of Moldova, as well as by an international association, have been accredited. The accreditation of national and local observers is within the competence of the Electoral Commission from Comrat. According to the data, in total about 20 national observers were accredited”.
Inna Vrînceanu, expert in good governance, Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT: “Elections for the position of Başkan and those for the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia are largely regulated by the specifics of autonomy, which are provided for in law no. 484 of 1994, regarding the special legal state of Gagauzia, including the Electoral Code of the autonomy, which in some places provided for some inconsistencies or difficulties, which served as political disputes over time. This has largely created some difficulties in carrying out campaigns at various stages. Also, the general specificity of autonomy leaves its mark on the way of organizing the campaign. Thus, if we talk about the current campaign, we have five of the eight registered candidates who already have experience participating in this type of election. The problems from the previous elections still persist, such as the conduct of electoral campaigns, the corruption of voters, which is not always officially documented. As was the case for previous elections, it remains a challenge for the Central Electoral Commission of Gagauzia – presenting the data regarding the progress of voting during the day or presenting the election results in real time”.
Vitalii Gaidarji, executive director of the public association “Media Birlii – Uniunea Media”, laf.md, Comrat: “To be elected, the candidate registered in the elections must accumulate more than 50% of the votes, and in the elections at least half of the citizens with the right to vote must participate. And then the question arises, how realistic is the threshold regarding the turnout? The subject of the electoral lists also remains under question. However, they were shortened and it is not clear for what reason. For example, in the previous elections for the position of mayor, the number of voters on the lists exceeded 109 thousand, and now it is about 92 thousand voters. Thus, it is not clear what happened to the 16 thousand voters. And in the conditions of this lack of clarity, the legitimacy of the previous election can be called into question. The explanation of the authorities is based on the conduct of a review, verifications regarding de facto residences and rents. But this fact also raises questions. Because de facto those who, even if they are not in the country, have the right to vote, were removed from the lists. Until the elections, the MPs of the People’s Assembly voted on legislative changes to reduce the threshold from 50%+1 to 1/3. But the mayor did not sign for the promulgation, although he was obliged. Today there are big problems regarding attendance and it is not clear if the elections will be validated”.
Nicolae Panfil, Program Director, Promo-LEX Association: “If we have so many efforts at the national level to monitor the elections and from each effort something is learned, recommendations, findings, discussions are made, legislation is changed, wouldn’t it be more simple if we had everywhere, including in regional elections, those legal provisions for organizing elections? So, if we have laws, if we have rules for organizing elections, they must be national, with application in the regional space, including in Gagauzia, including taking into account certain specifics, such as, for example, the one related to the electoral campaign , where it is very clearly stated that electoral agitation can only be done by citizens of the Republic of Moldova with domicile in Gagauzia. Here we can discuss whether other citizens, from other regions of the country, can participate in this process. In this sense, we must look at the prospect of having very clear rules, regulations for all elections, whether they are at the national, regional or local level. For example, we have some very clear rules regarding the financing of electoral campaigns and we have institutions, such as the CEC, which has certain capacities and which could transfer these capacities to the Electoral Council of Gagauzia. It’s about having clear rules and not manipulating these rules every time it suits us or not.”
For more details, the video recording of the event in available on
privesc.eu here and on Realitatea Live
here.
The event was organized within the project “EU DEBATES CAFÉ: Advancing knowledge and expertise regarding EU institutions and policies in the Republic of Moldova”, implemented by IPRE, in cooperation with the Hanns Seidel Foundation in the Republic of Moldova and with the financial support of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.
