Leden Eurpees Parlement zullen toezicht houden op de verkiezingen in Moldavië(en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Seven MEPs will be part of an international election monitoring team in Moldova next week, where deep political divisions could spark another round of post-election violence.
The European Parliament on Tuesday (21 July) decided to send seven of its members as part of the 200-odd international election monitoring team in Moldova.
Early parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place on Wednesday (29 July), after the legislature was dissolved following two unsuccessful attempts from the majority Communist Party to elect the country's president. The poll takes place against the backdrop of violent demonstrations and a brutal police crackdown after the last parliamentary elections held in April.
Heading the team is Romanian MEP Marian Jean Marinescu from the centre-right European People's Party group, who was also part of the previous monitoring mission.
Back then, the MEPs' criticism regarding irregularities was watered down in the final report drafted by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which found the elections to be broadly free and fair.
"I and colleagues struggled hard to have strong statements incorporated into the OSCE findings but they were rejected. I therefore find it difficult to endorse the very warm press statement of the Head of the OSCE delegation," former British MEP Emma Nicholson said at the time.
Due to the short time passed since the last elections, Moldovan authorities are likely to keep the same voters lists, which include a large number of deceased persons, excluded students and workers abroad.
The opposition also condemned the fact that the voting day was scheduled on a regular working day, impeding the diaspora - which usually votes against the Communists - from casting its ballot.
The government's explanation for the move - a first in Moldovan voting history - was that July was a bad time for voting, due to the holidays, especially during weekends. The Communist Party also lowered the mandatory turnout threshold required to validate the elections from 50 to 33 percent.
Risk of renewed violence
The risk of renewed violence could not be excluded, as both the government and the opposition were sharply polarising the voters against each other, experts warn.
"We are very concerned about these elections," said Marcin Walecki from the European Partnership for Democracy, a Brussels-based organisation offering assistance to some of the NGOs working in Chisinau.
"The main setbacks include the ruling party's control over mass media, systemic abuse of administrative resources, political and economic harrassment of opposition groups – all of it still continues, against the very clear language coming from Brussels," he explained on Monday at a seminar organised by the Liberal group in the European Parliament (ALDE).
"Unless significant steps are taken before 29 July to demonstrate dialogue and fairness of the process, public confidence in the outcome will be jeopardised yet again. This might lead to post-election violence even on a larger scale," the Polish expert said.
More than 700 people were arrested after the April demonstrations, some of them detained several days and brutally beaten up by the police, without explanations or charges presented to them.
According to the European Partnership for Democracy, there is credible evidence that the policemen who participated in the beatings were given bonuses and pay raises.
A counsellor at the Moldovan mission to the EU, Iulian Groza, rejected all accusations and said that his government was committed to improving the democratic processes in Moldova, especially since it wants to join the EU at some point.
He called the April events "unfortunate" and blamed the opposition for blocking the setting up of a broad investigation commission, which was to include international experts.
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