Promo-LEX: Electoral stakeholders discuss role of independent observers in election campaigns
On 15 June 2012 a roundtable was held to discuss “The Role of Observers in the Electoral Process. The Importance of Codes of Conduct”. The event was organized by Promo-LEX Association in partnership with European Exchange (Germany), under the aegis of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections and in cooperation with the Central Election Commission.
The main issues discussed at the event included the status and role of independent observers in electoral processes, difficulties related to observer accreditation procedures and the importance of codes of conduct. The roundtable was also an occasion to present and debate key findings and recommendations made by national observers following elections held in the period 2009-2011.
Attending the event, Ion Manole, the executive director of Promo-LEX Association, and Dr. Iurie Ciocan, the Chairman of the Central Election Commission, highlighted the importance of continuous communication between electoral authorities and civil society not just during election campaigns, but also in between. Dr. Iurie Ciocan stated in particular: “We attach great importance to the cooperation between the Central Election Commission and non-governmental organizations and in particular I would like to remark the role of Promo-LEX in this respect. They started to cooperate with the CEC as an NGO with a couple of observers, mainly from the eastern side of the Nistru, to eventually achieve the performance of having thousands of observers throughout the country”.
Speaking about the role of independent observers Pavel Postica, director of Promo-LEX’s Monitoring Democratic Processes Program, noted: “The main role [of independent observers] is to prevent the occurrence of electoral violations, to minimize the negative effect of the discovered transgressions and make efforts to change those legal provisions which impede the conducting of fair elections. These efforts add credibility to the entire process”.
Nicolae Panfil, the secretary of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, presented the most frequent recommendations found in the reports prepared by independent observers following the last five sets of elections. They concerned the following: electoral education and information of voters and efforts to ensure a civilized conduct during campaigns; training for members of first and second level electoral bodies; improvement of electoral registers; introduction of minimum standards for technical, operational and logistical conditions for electoral bodies; funding of campaigns, of political parties and candidates; revision of the status of national observers.
Further, at the roundtable Promo-LEX presented the Declaration and the Independent Observers’ Code of Conduct of the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM), which comprise ten fundamental conditions that must be followed by those engaged in an independent election observation. The participants were encouraged to sign the GNDEM Declaration and apply the provisions of the Code of Conduct in practice. Promo-LEX has been a member of the GNDEM Network since 2010.
The event was attended by representatives of electoral authorities, civil society, political parties, international organizations and diplomatic missions.
The event was organized within the framework of the project “Domestic Election Monitoring and Voter Education in Moldova – Strengthening of Capacities and International Networking”, funded by the European Union Delegation to Moldova through “Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in Development” Program.
For further details contact: Carolina Bondarciuc, Public Relations Officer: Tel: (22) 450024, GSM: 069637849,
e-mail: pr@promolex.md