2016 Moldovan presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Moldova on 30 October 2016.[1] They were the first direct presidential elections since 1996 and followed a declaration by the Constitutional Court on 4 March 2016 that the 2000 constitutional revision that led to the president being indirectly elected by Parliament was unconstitutional.[2][3] The elections were won by Igor Dodon of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM).[4][5]

2016 Moldovan presidential election
30 October 2016 (first round)
13 November 2016 (second round)
 
Candidate Igor Dodon Maia Sandu
Party PSRM PAS
Popular vote 834,081 766,593
Percentage 52.11% 47.89%
Second round results by territorial electoral commission
Dodon:      50–55%      55–60%      60–65%      65–70%      70–75%      75–80%      80–85%      >95%
Sandu:      50–55%      55–60%      60–65%      65–70%      75–80%
President before election

Nicolae Timofti
Independent

 Elected President

Igor Dodon
PSRM

Politics of Moldova

Government of Moldova

Constitution
Parliament
Judiciary
Executive
Administrative divisions
Elections
Foreign relations
flag Moldova portal

Candidates
# on electoral list Candidate Party
1——
2Mihai GhimpuLiberal Party
3Iurie LeancăEuropean People's Party
4Dumitru CiubașencoOur Party
5Maia SanduParty of Action and Solidarity
6Igor DodonParty of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova
7Silvia RaduIndependent
8Maia LagutaIndependent
9Ana GuțuParty "The Right"
10Valeriu GhilețchiIndependent

Withdrawn candidates:

  • Marian Lupu – withdrew on 26 October and endorsed Maia Sandu.
  • Andrei Năstase – withdrew on 15 October and supported a common candidate from the centre-right opposition, Maia Sandu.
  • Inna Popenco – registration was annulled on 22 October by a court decision upon the CEC request.

Candidates who got registration refusal by CEC:

Candidates who failed to collect the required number of signatures:

  • Oleg Brega – announced his withdrawal on 12 September, claiming the CEC were dishonest;
  • Anatol Plugaru – announced his withdrawal from the race on 23 September, declaring the election "unconstitutional";[6]
  • Mihai Corj;
  • Artur Croitor;
  • Ilie Rotaru;
  • Vadim Brinzan;
  • Mihail Garbuz;
  • Geta Saviţcaia.

The Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova did not nominate a candidate and called on voters to boycott the elections as they considered them to be illegal. The Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova also failed to nominate a candidate, instead supporting a common candidate from the centre-right opposition, Maia Sandu.

Opinion polls

First round
Date Pollster Sample Dodon
PSRM		 Sandu
PAS		 Ciubașenco
PN		 Năstase
PPDA		 Voronin
PCRM		 Leancă
PPEM		 Lupu
PDM		 Others Undecided Lead
6–16 OctoberBOP1,10927.0%9.3%5.6%8.1%1.7%7.5%5.8%35.0%17.7%
23 September–6 October Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Moldova 1,102 33.4%26.5%<5.0%12.2%<5.0%11.4%6.8%
33.7%21.9%<5.0%13.0%<5.0%11.4%11.9%
33.0%14.3%13.0%<5.0%12.5%<5.0%11.4%18.6%
14–25 September IDIS 1,108 23.1% 7.9% 7.7% 3.2% 7.6% 11.2% 27.5% 15.2%
28 September–5 OctoberASDM1,16133.9%10.1%12.6%6.8%11.8%9.1%15.7%21.3%
1–23 SeptemberIRI1,51630%13.5%13%5%3%12%10%14%16.5%
2–10 SeptemberASDM1,17929.0%12.9%11.1%6.5%9.9%6.8%12.1%16.1%
21 May–15 JuneFOP4,62618.1%11.4%9.0%*7.7%5.1%3.9%3.7%8.6%10.2%6.7%
MayNDI20%14%13%7%5%5%24%6%
16–23 AprilIPP1,14318.5%12.9%4.8%*7.7%4.8%2.6%2.2%9.4%37.1%5.6%
1–10 AprilASDM1,16918.1%12.4%10.9%*10.3%6.9%5.7%3.6%19.2%9.5%5.7%
11–25 MarchIRI1,50018%10%20%*12%6%3%5%14%18%2%
11–20 MarchZiarul Timpul și Fondul Opiniei Publice1,79211.7%9.0%9.7%*7.6%4.9%3.6%3.4%10.3%14.2%2.0%

* Other candidate Renato Usatîi may not participate. Each candidate must be at least 42 years of age.

Dodon–Sandu

Date
Poll SourceSample SizeUndecidedLead
Dodon
PSRM		Sandu
PAS
6–16 OctoberBOP1,10940,8%24.1%35.1%16.7%

Conduct
A voting line in the second round

Signature collection

Marian Lupu, the candidate of the Democratic Party of Moldova, collected over 20,000 signatures in his support and submitted them to the Central Electoral Commission in less than a day.[7] The swiftness of the procedure was deemed suspicious, because the required stamps and signatures had to be obtained from public institutions that were closed at the time the party supporters could have collected them.

An independent candidate, Oleg Brega, filed a complaint with the Commission, indicating that the DPM must have received preferential treatment as their paperwork was handled on Friday after working hours, as well as on Saturday, a non-working day.[8] The CEC dismissed the complaint and in the aftermath Brega decided to drop out of the presidential race, considering it unfair. A separate complaint was filed by Andrei Năstase on the same grounds.[9]

Lupu stated that it was due to the effectiveness of his staff, rather than cheating.

Voter roll

Prior to the elections the Central Electoral Commission announced that the total number of voters was 3.2 million, an implausible figure, given the steady decline in Moldova's population,[10] and the fact that preliminary results of the 2014 demographic survey indicated that the total population of the country was only three million.[11]

An independent investigation revealed that the lists of voters prepared by the Central Electoral Commission were inaccurate and contained a significant number of deceased people.[12] From a sample of 300 deceased, 100 were still listed as eligible to cast their vote, according to the online voter registry managed by the CEC.

The voter list included some prominent figures, such as the movie director Emil Loteanu (died in 2003), the actor Mihai Volontir (died in 2015) and the journalist Constantin Tănase (died in 2014).

The Commission acknowledged that the lists were not fully accurate,[13] but pointed out that only three out of the alleged 100 were present on the list. They stated that at the time of the journalists' investigation, the online database reflected data from previously held elections, rather than the most up-to-date figures.

Overseas voting issues

Numerous overseas voters in Europe were unable to vote due insufficient ballot papers being available.[14] However, the number of voters unable to vote was thought to be lower than Dodon's margin of victory.[14]

Results

As none of the candidates was able to achieve a majority on 30 October 2016, a second round of voting took place on 13 November 2016 between the two leading candidates, Igor Dodon of PSRM and Maia Sandu of PAS.[15] Dodon won the second round with 52.11% of the vote and became the fifth President of Moldova on 23 December.[5]

CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Igor DodonParty of Socialists680,55047.98834,08152.11
Maia SanduParty of Action and Solidarity549,15238.71766,59347.89
Dumitru CiubașencoOur Party85,4666.03
Iurie LeancăEuropean People's Party44,0653.11
Mihai GhimpuLiberal Party25,4901.80
Valeriu GhilețchiIndependent15,3541.08
Maia LagutaIndependent10,7120.76
Silvia RaduIndependent5,2760.37
Ana GuțuThe Right2,4530.17
Total1,418,518100.001,600,674100.00
Valid votes1,418,51898.461,600,67499.17
Invalid/blank votes22,2151.5413,3490.83
Total votes1,440,733100.001,614,023100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,929,69449.183,019,49553.45
Source: CEC, CEC

References
  1. G. S. (1 April 2016). "Alegerile prezidentiale din R. Moldova se vor tine pe 30 octombrie". HotNews.ro.
  2. "The Constitutional Court of Moldova has decided: the country's president will be directly elected by the people". publika.md. 4 March 2016. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  3. "The Constitutional Court: the president will be elected by the people". Unimedia.info. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  4. "Igor Dodon este noul președinte al Republicii Moldova". Archived from the original on 2016-11-18. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
  5. "Moldova's Pro-Russian Candidate Claims Presidency in Runoff Poll". voanews.com. 13 November 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  6. "Independent presidential candidate, Anatol Plugaru withdraws from the race, requesting the declararation of elections as unconstitutional". en.crimemoldova.com. Archived from the original on 2016-10-01. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  7. "PDM a colectat 29 de mii de semnaturi și le-a dus la CEC". 4 September 2016.
  8. "Cum a primit Oleg Brega listele pentru colectarea semnăturilor". YouTube. 4 September 2016.
  9. Andrei Năstase a dat în judecată CEC-ul și pe Marian Lupu
  10. Jackson, Joe (26 October 2011). "Nobody Home: The Countries Where Population Is on the Decline". Time.
  11. "Mai mulți alegători decât populație".
  12. Cimitirul din listele electorale
  13. CEC, Comunicat de presă din 10 septembrie 2016] (PDF)
  14. Pro-Russia Candidate Claims Victory In Moldova's Presidential Vote Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, 13 November 2016
  15. "Pro-Russian candidate to face second round in Moldova presidential vote". Reuters. 2016-10-31. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
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