During the Steering Committee meeting held on 15 December in the presence of its members and permanent observers, the Council of Europe (CoE) Project Improving Electoral Practice in the Republic of Moldova, Phase III presented the results achieved during this year, and draft work plan for 2024.
The Project’s Phase III started in March 2023 and implemented around 27 main actions aimed at supporting Moldovan authorities towards the integrity, transparency and quality of the electoral process in the Republic of Moldova in line with the CoE and international standards in the electoral field.
Among the most impactful actions, the members of the Steering Committee underlined inter alia: the development of by-laws in line with the Electoral Code entered into the force as of 01.01.2023; the support in further digitalisation of the electoral processes through development of legal and practical tools for electoral observers and police; the capacity-building trainings for dedicated electoral staff and judges in the field of electoral dispute resolution; the reinforcement of the capacities of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) to efficiently oversight and control political parties and electoral campaign financing based on the adjusted methodologies developed during the previous phase; the country wide awareness raising campaign on combatting sexism and gender-based violence in elections launched ahead of 2023 general local elections; the study visit to the Council of Europe Headquarters to meet and exchange, about international standards and good practices, with various entities of the “CoE electoral cycle”; the development of the next 4-year strategic documents for the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Moldova, the Central Electoral Council of ATU Gagauzia and the Centre for Continuous Electoral Training.
Members stressed the excellent active cooperation of the project with number of partners and actors which created synergies, allowing the successful implementation of a number of actions, notably, in monitoring sexist speech and behavior in traditional and new (online) media in the Republic of Moldova in elections – together with the Audiovisual Council and other five CoE projects; the training for law-enforcement bodies in investigation into electoral violations implemented in partnership with the UNDP Moldova and USAID; the round table on hate speech, sexism and other forms of gender-based violence in elections – in partnership with the UN Women Moldova.
In the long term, this will reinforce the capacities of the CEC, and all other relevant authorities and actors, to better prepare, organise, conduct and manage elections, paving the way for implementation of the country’s engagements in line with the European Council decision of 14 December 2023 to start the negotiation with the Republic of Moldova to adhere to the European Union.
These impactful achievements were possible thanks to a great cooperation and relation of trust and confidence built with main national partners, the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova, Centre for Continuous Electoral Training, Central Electoral Council of ATU Gagauzia, as well as representatives of the Parliament, National Institute of Justice, Audiovisual Council, other public authorities and international organisations such as UNDP, civil society associations such as Promo-LEX, ADEPT, National Youth Council of Moldova and Women’s right organisations.
The Project Steering Committee unanimously adopted the Project Work Plan for 2024 to follow up on the continuous efforts and positive results achieved in the framework of the CoE Action Plan 2021-2024 for the Republic of Moldova.
