The Council of Europe alongside the Center for Continuing Electoral Training in the Republic of Moldova (Training Centre) launched an online training course on Countering misuse of administrative resources during the election period on 27 April 2021. The online event gathered representatives of the Central Electoral Commission , the General Inspectorate of the Police, the civil society, electoral management bodies.
The course comprasis of five chapters concerning integrity as a key value of the electoral process, notion and classification of administrative resources, relevant international standards, the basic document being the Joint Guidelines of the Venice Commission and OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights for Preventing and Responding to the Misuse of Administrative Resources During Electoral Processes (2016), as well as the legal framework of the Republic of Moldova meant to prevent the misuse of administrative resources during the electoral period and engaging the responsibility for the misuse of administrative resources during the electoral period.
During the event, the director of the Training Centre, Dr. Doina Bordeianu mentioned that the use of administrative resources is a current topic, directly related to the integrity of electoral processes. The misuse of administrative resources adversely affects electoral contestants and voters. Thus, the former are drawn into an unequal electoral race, and the latter are deprived of the opportunity to objectively discern the qualifications of electoral contestants.
The Senior project officer of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau, Sergiu Tatarov related that this e-learning course is one of the achievements that is a result of the joint efforts of the Council of Europe and the Moldovan electoral authorities since 2018. He also noted that the course is based on both national acts and practices in this field and the recommendations of the Venice Commission and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in electoral field.
In his turn, the Head of the Central Electoral Commission Dr. Dorin Cimil underlined that the issue addressed is one known in terms of its importance in the electoral process. The last election campaigns that took place showed those shortcomings and problems that are revealed by the misuse of administrative resources, as well as by the involvement of the human factor in electoral processes.
The online course is designed for all electoral stakeholders, observers, law inforcement bodies, as well as citizens who want to embrace knowledge in the field of countering the misuse of administrative resources in electoral processes. The course is placed on the Training Centre’s online platform re-engineered with the assistance of the Council of Europe in 2020. Those interested can enrole themselves for the online course and follow it independently.
The activity is implemented and funded by the Council of Europe within the Project "Improving electoral practices in the Republic of Moldova, Phase II"
