Moldovan election body refuses to accredit Georgian observers

July 28, 2009

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Eleven Georgian observers who arrived in Moldova to monitor the snap parliamentary election were stopped at the airport on 27 July and told that they should return to Tbilisi on the first flight the next morning as the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) had refused to accredit them, the Moldovan pro-opposition ProTV Chisinau channel reported on July 27.

ProTV said that the Georgians came to observe the 29 July election on the list of Enemo (European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations), which includes 140 people from several countries. It said that 86 of them from Ukraine, Macedonia and Croatia were refused accreditation on reason that they "would pose danger to Moldova's security as they have criminal records in their counties".

The Central Electoral Commission said the decision was taken after consultations with the Information and Security Service (SIS) and the Interior Ministry, ProTV said.

The television showed lawyer Constantin Tanase saying that "according to the electoral legislation, the CEC should not ask for the SIS' consent to accredit observers".

On the other hand, CEC secretary Iurie Ciocan told ProTV that the CEC accredits international observers in line with a special regulation, according to which "it has to ask for the opinion of the Interior Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the SIS".

ProTV, Moldova's private TV channel