Moldova CEC beginning recount of votes in parliamentary elections

CHISINAU. April 15. KAZINFORM. The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Moldova on Wednesday is beginning the recount of votes on the results of the country's parliamentary elections that were held on April 5. The recount is conducted by a decision of the Constitutional Court of Moldova; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.
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Moldovan President and leader of the ruling Party of Communists Vladimir Voronin submitted a request on the vote recount to the Constitutional Court after opposition declared the elections falsified. However, a day before the recount the leader of three opposition parties that won seats in parliament (Our Moldova Alliance, the Liberal and Liberal Democratic Parties) refused to participate in it. At a joint press conference they called the recount a ?farce? organised by the power in order to legalise the voting results.? Opposition insists on new elections and intends to collect evidence of unlawfulness of the elections ? to check the electorate lists where, the oppositionists are certain, ?the left abroad and deceased electors were included.? Moldovan CEC Chairman Eugeniu Stirbu told Itar-Tass that the votes will be recounted within one day. With this end in view about 20,000 members of local election commissions will be engaged. Bags with ballot papers kept at district courts will be taken to district election commissions. The ballots of electors who voted abroad will be recounted by the district election council of Chisinau. International observers accredited at the elections and representatives of political parties who refused to participate in it will be present during the recounting procedure. The Moldovan authorities believe that by refusing to participate in the vote recounting opposition discredited itself. The Moldovan Constitutional Court?s decision to recount the votes in the April 5 parliamentary elections will ease tensions in society, CEC Chairman Eugeniu Stirbu said on Monday. On Sunday, April 12, the Moldova?s Constitutional Court ruled to recount the votes. This was done at President Vladimir Voronin?s request. The recounting has been necessitated by violent actions by the nationalistic political opposition that organised mass rampages in Chisinau at the beginning of last week, demanding that the elections be declared null and void. According to the Central Election Commission, 49.48 percent voted for the Communists. Their main competitors, the Liberal, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Our Moldova Alliance received 13.14, 12.43, and 9.77 percent respectively. The other eight parties and independent candidates failed to overcome the 6 percent election barrier; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass. See www.itar-tass.com for full version.
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