§ Electoral Code art. 88Observers

Observers
(1) Observer status is incompatible with that of an electoral official serving on the
electoral body, candidate for election, member of the initiative group, representative or trusted
person of the electoral competitor or referendum participant, treasurer.
(2) Observers may be:
a) national observers — citizens of the Republic of Moldova with the right to vote,
accredited by electoral bodies under the conditions laid down in this Code, at the request of
public associations and electoral training and research institutions of the Republic of Moldova,
who have the task of observing how the elections are organised and conducted;
b) international observers — citizens of the Republic of Moldova, as well as foreign
citizens, representatives of foreign electoral authorities and electoral training and research
institutions, international organisations, foreign state governments and non-governmental
organisations abroad, as well as international electoral experts accredited by the Central
Electoral Commission under the terms of this Code;
(3) Public associations/non-governmental organisations dealing, in accordance with
the Statute or other internal acts, with the protection of human rights or democratic values may
request the accreditation of observers. Upon request, electoral constituency councils shall
also accredit national observers from public associations of the Republic of Moldova.
(4) International observers may be accredited at the invitation of the Central Electoral
Commission to the entities referred to in paragraph (2) (b), and shall confirm their interpreters.
(5) The subjects referred to in paragraph (2) may submit requests for the accreditation
of observers before the start of the electoral period, but no later than 7 days before the election
day, and may carry out their work until the results of the elections and the validation of
mandates have been confirmed.
(6) In the event of a request for accreditation of national observers, the electoral body
shall adopt, within a period of up to 5 days, as a rule in the presence of the applicant or his/her
representative, a decision accrediting or rejecting the candidacy of the person proposed for
election observation and, in the case of international observers, within 10 days, but no later
than the day preceding the election day.
(7) In the event of rejection of the candidature, the electoral body shall be required to
inform the person who submitted the candidacy of the reasons for its decision. The refusal of
the accreditation of observers shall be justified and may be challenged under the conditions
of Chapter XIII.
(8) Observers accredited by the Central Electoral Commission may monitor the
electoral process throughout the country and at all polling stations, including those outside the
country, and observers accredited by electoral constituency councils shall operate only within
the respective constituency.
(9) Accredited observers shall have the right to attend all electoral operations, all
meetings of electoral bodies, including on the election day, without interfering with the electoral
process or other electoral operations, and to inform the chairperson of the electoral body of
the irregularities observed. Observers shall have access to all electoral information, electoral
rolls, minutes drawn up by the electoral bodies, photographic and video filming with notification
to the chairperson of the electoral body, without jeopardising the secrecy and security of
voting, and national observers may also submit complaints of irregularities, which shall be
examined by the electoral body, with the notifier being compulsorily informed of the decision
taken. Observers shall have the right to inform the public of their findings. On the election day,
observers shall not be entitled to express findings that would favour or disadvantage certain
electoral competitors or referendum participants.
(10) The records of observers accredited by electoral bodies and their complaints shall
be made through the information application State Automated Information System ‘Elections’,
managed by the Central Electoral Commission.
(11) The procedure for the accreditation of observers, their rights and obligations shall
be laid down in regulations approved by the Central Electoral Commission.