Project Summary:

The second phase of the “Enhancing democracy in Moldova through inclusive and transparent elections” (EDMITE II) Project sets the overall goal of achieving an enhanced integrity, transparency and inclusiveness of the electoral process in Moldova by ensuring a more independent and credible electoral administration and better informed and pro-active citizens.

Electoral support and capacity development are part of UNDP’s democratic governance assistance worldwide, through which UNDP helps nations build democratic frameworks to improve representation, accountability, and transparency for the benefit of citizens.

UNDP has a long-standing partnership with the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) and the Center for Continuous Electoral Training (CCET) aiming at advancing the democratic electoral processes in Moldova by consolidating the transparency and efficiency of elections’ management, modernization of electoral IT solutions and enhancing the inclusiveness and participation of voters. This partnership, which spans over 10 years, resulted in the establishment of strong professional institutions, development of a modern State Automated Information System “Elections” (SAISE) and the implementation of effective long-term civic and voter education instruments.

With the continuous UNDP assistance, the CEC demonstrated a high capacity of carrying out transparent, safe and “well-administered” elections (as attested by OSCE/ODIHR Observation Missions) throughout challenging electoral cycles, particularly the 2020 Presidential Elections and 2021 Parliamentary Elections, organized in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and 2023 General Local Elections.

Objectives:

• Enhance the inclusiveness of the electoral process by increasing the functional and technical capacities of the State Automated Information System “Elections” (SAISE);
• Enhance the democratic participation of citizens by setting up and implementing the voters’ information and civic education programmes;
• Strengthen the capacity for effective and coherent oversight and monitoring on political party and electoral campaign financing;
• Improve the legal and regulatory framework to respond to the elections observations missions recommendations;
• Knowledge gaps are identified, and communication tools are designed to continuously reach a broad spectrum of society through different channels;

• Citizens are more aware of important electoral dynamics and are better able to engage and lead public discussion;

• Increased public awareness about the need of inclusive electoral processes.

Expected results:

• State Automated Information System “Elections” (SAISE) further advanced;
• Civic education and voter information systems strengthened;
• Capacity for effective and coherent oversight and monitoring on political party financing and election campaign strengthened;
• Legal and regulatory framework improved to respond to the election observation missions’ recommendations;

• Development and implementation of the electoral education university curriculum and promote debates around electoral processes within the academia;

• Conducting awareness raising campaigns on the importance of political and electoral participation of women on all levels of government for the entire society and disseminate information materials and create opportunities for women to engage in local politics;
• Support the cooperation between selected LPAs and local CSOs in developing a human rights-based approach to budgeting and consultation processes at the local level with a focus on the role of LPAs in ensuring inclusiveness of democratic processes.

Accomplishments:

• Automation of electoral processes enhanced by the procurement of 240 scanners for passports and ID cards and their use in-country and abroad during 2020 Presidential Elections and 2021 Parliamentary Elections; 
• SAISE demonstrated high-level of resilience, transparency and accuracy in the 2020 Presidential, 2021 Parliamentary and 2023 General Local Elections due to upgraded functionality and IT infrastructure, increased cyber-security, effective maintenance of the data interoperability framework and dedicated teams of IT experts and local companies;
• A Gap Analysis & Roadmap have been developed and implemented for the scale-up of the new CEC’s Political Finance Department. The contribution led to the establishment and strengthening capacities of the CEC new Political Finance Department tasked with the efficient financial oversight of political parties;
• The development of the Financial Control Module strengthened CEC’s capacity to effectively monitor and control the financing of political parties. These translated into a steady increase in their compliance rate with financial reporting responsibilities, enabled by an enhanced digital reporting processes. Currently, the project focuses on the further updating the functionalities of the Financial Control Module (version 3);
• Adjustment of the CEC’s secondary legislation to the 2023 provisions of the Electoral Code, including public consultations, training sessions for the CEC staff, translation of the developed regulations, strengthening capacities of magistrates on electoral dispute resolution, and information campaign across the country to explain the Electoral Code amendments and the reform's impact - ahead of November 2023 General Local Elections;
• The project strengthening capacities of the CEC with trainings and clarification guide pertaining to the electoral legal framework on contraventions (misdemeanor procedures) and electoral complaints processes;
• Information about the location and availability of the polling stations abroad became more accessible due to the online application (diaspora.cec.md) accessed by 86,700 voters abroad during the 2020 Presidential Elections and over 100,000 voters abroad during the 2021 Parliamentary Elections; 
• Information about voting processes during the pandemic became more accessible due to the online, audio-visual and printed content of the “Vote responsibly! Vote Safely!” campaign that reached out to approximately 1.2 million people during the 2020 Presidential Elections and by approximately 1 million people during the 2021 Parliamentary Elections;
• Real-time data visualization on voter turnout and preliminary election results increased transparency and integrity of the electoral process in the 2020 Presidential Elections and 2021 Parliamentary Elections due to the easy-to-see and gender-sensitive web interface accessed by over 2.5 million people; 
• Comprehensive SAISE Audit carried out and Transformation Roadmap developed and endorsed by the CEC;
• Three post-electoral surveys were conducted and published: after 2020 Presidential Elections, 2021 Early Parliamentary Elections and after the Local General Elections 2023;
• Electoral knowledge of 34,032 children and 260 teachers was improved due to the civic education bus campaign “Arci’s Journey to Elections”, conducted in 301 schools from 236 localities between 2020-2023;
• Gender equality in electoral processes during 2020 Presidential Elections, 2021 Parliamentary Elections, and 2023 Local General Elections was assessed and publicly presented as a statistical study (infographics); 
• The project supported the up-scale and institutionalization of the innovative learning approach - Intellectual Game “What? Where When?” in electoral field.  A total of 9 editions had been organized, bringing together over 1300 participants from around 140 educational institutions over the country;
• An ongoing dialogue is supported between the CEC, national and international partners on electoral issues through the consultative mechanism – Election Partners’ Platform meetings;
• The project succeeded in developing and approving with the Ministry of Education and Research the curriculum on electoral education in schools and universities (universities from Chișinău, Comrat, Cahul, and Bălți); Specialized electoral education textbooks, implementation guidelines and training of teachers facilitated the piloting of electoral education courses in 10 schools and 5 universities across the country in the academic year 2023-2024; 
• Women and young people from political parties have been constantly trained and motivated to inform and to involve in democratic processes the youth and women representing social-vulnerable groups;
• The project strengthened the capacities of the CEC with the development of the Crisis Tool Book that includes practical steps and recommendations for risk management, crisis management and crisis communication most relevant for the CEC;
• In 2022, a total number of 1206 polling stations representing public buildings were completely evaluated on accessibility for people with different disabilities.