REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA - LOCAL ELECTIONS 5 NOVEMBER 2023 - ODIHR Election Observation Mission

BACKGROUND AND POLITICAL CONTEXT In the 2019 local elections, the Democratic Party of Moldova won the most mayoral and local council seats, followed by the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), the electoral bloc comprising the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) and the Platform Dignity and Truth Party (PPDA), and further by the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM). [...] The 2021 early parliamentary elections resulted in the dominance of the PAS with 63 out of 101 mandates, allowing it to form the government and solidify the party's position in Moldovan politics ahead of the local elections.3 On 4 July, in line with the law, the CEC set the date of these elections for 5 November 2023. [...] 6 Article 4.3 of the ICCPR stipulates that the states ”shall immediately inform the other States Parties to the present Covenant, through the intermediary of the Secretary General of the United Nations, of the provisions from which it has derogated and of the reasons by which it was actuated”. [...] The CEC informed the ODIHR EOM that the findings on specific violations were provided by the Security and Intelligence Service (SIS), the Anticorruption Prosecutor, the National Anti-corruption Centre and the Police as part of ongoing investigations into the use of undeclared foreign funds.49 On 3 November, two days before the elections, the CES issued an executive decision to cancel the registrat. [...] On 12 December, in a final decision, the Chișinău Court of Appeal admitted the appeal and cancelled the decision of the CES on the grounds that the CES exceeded its competencies, as the power to legislate on electoral matters is the exclusive competence of Parliament.