The British Embassy in Chisinau joins the UNDP project “Enhancing democracy in the Republic of Moldova through inclusive and transparent elections” (EDMITE) that was launched in autumn this year.

The project aims at supporting the alignment of the national legal provisions with relevant international standards and further improvement of the electoral management processes to make elections more inclusive and transparent for all eligible voters in and outside of the Republic of Moldova.

The main beneficiaries of EDMITE project are the Central Electoral Commission, Center for Continuous Electoral Training, Agency of Public Services, E-Government Center and other stakeholders being a continuation of a previous UNDP Programme, implemented during 2012-2016.

”We highly appreciate the interest of the Embassy of Great Britain to Chisinau for the electoral process from the Republic of Moldova and the offered support to improve and consolidate it. Organizing free, fair, upstanding, accessible and transparent elections represents a priority for the Central Electoral Commission thus the assistance offered by our partners will contribute to achieving these goals.” stated Alina Russu, the president of Central Electoral Commission.

Within this initiative the British Embassy through the UK’s Good Governance Fund offers 1,050,000 USD to support the integrity of the electoral process by contributing to the development and implementation of an online reporting and disclosure module on financing of political parties. The module will not only set regional standards in this area, but will contribute to the increasing   the transparency of the electoral process.  

“The United Kingdom believes that a prosperous economy and state structures which function well are beneficial for society. The UK is committed to the Republic of Moldova and is actively supporting Moldova`s implementation of its reform agenda. We are pleased to contribute to the modernization and enhancing of the electoral process by ensuring increased electoral fairness, integrity, transparency and predictability”, mentioned Lucy Joyce, British Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova.

Another pillar of the UK’s support represents an extensive national civic education and targeted outreach campaign, particularly aimed at women and young voters, with the aim of making elected political leaders more accountable and responsive.

“This additional support will contribute to the democratic process in the country and will offer more opportunities to citizens to take informed decisions in elections and to hold their government accountable.” noted Stefan Liller, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative.

The three-year project implemented by UNDP Moldova is also financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the American People, the Ministry for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands.