Parliamentary Elections, 6 March 2005
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Mission at a glance
- Head of Mission: Amb. Istvan Gyarmati (Hun)
- 12 core staff in Chisinau
- 16 long-term observers deployed to regional centres
- 150 short-term observers requested
- Core team and long-term observers drawn from 17 OSCE participating States.
Mission schedule
- 27 Jan.: Mission opens with arrival of the core team
- 3 Feb.: Briefing of long-term observers
- 6 Feb.: Deployment of long-term observers
- 2 Mar.: Arrival of short-term observers
- 6 Mar.: Election day
- 7 Mar.: Press conference in Chisinau
Following an invitation from Moldova's Foreign Ministry, ODIHR deployed an election observation mission in January to observe the parliamentary elections on 6 March.
Headed by Ambassador István Gyarmati of Hungary, the mission included 16 international experts based in Chişinău and 16 long-term observers deployed in Chişinău and seven regional centers. The experts and observers were drawn from 17 OSCE participating States.
For election day, the mission joined efforts with delegations from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the European Parliament. Together, they deployed some 500 observers from 36 OSCE participating States.
According to the mission's final report: "While the 6 March 2005 parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova generally complied with most OSCE commitments, Council of Europe and other international standards for democratic elections, nevertheless, they fell short of some that are central to a genuinely competitive election process. In particular, campaign conditions and access to the media were not satisfactorily equitable. In this regard, the elections confirmed negative trends already noted in the 2003 local elections."
Long-term observation
The mission, headed by Ambassador Istvan Gyarmati of Hungary, consists of 12 international staff based in Chisinau and 16 long-term observers deployed throughout the country. Core-team members and long-term observers are drawn from 17 OSCE participating States.
The mission will assess the entire electoral process in terms of its compliance with international standards for democratic elections and national legislation. It will focus on the election campaign, the legislative framework and its implementation, the media situation, the work of the election administration and relevant government bodies, and the resolution of election-related disputes.
Election day
ODIHR has requested 150 short-term observers to be deployed immediately prior to the elections. They will be deployed around the country in teams of two to monitor the opening of polling stations, the voting, the counting of ballots, and the tabulation of results.
The day after the election, the mission will hold a press conference to issue a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions.