The campaign for the local elections was competitive, but they were negatively affected by systemic legal gaps and shortcomings in the oversight of campaign finances, as well as by political polarisation and deep public disenchantment with politics, according to the preliminary assessment by international observers of the OSCE/ODIHR, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, and EP.
Though the 2024 legal changes took some ODIHR recommendations into account, they left most of the previous recommendations unaddressed, it is added in the joint assessment.
“It was good to see a competitive campaign over the last weeks and a well-run and mostly peaceful election day yesterday, but gaps in election laws that weaken the work of institutions remain a concern”, Matteo Mecacci, Head of the ODIHR Election Observation Mission (EOM), said on Monday.
As he added, addressing key aspects of the electoral process that require reform, from campaign finance to equitable campaign opportunities in the media for all contestants, will “continue to be the focus of our work”, including during the observation of the second round of the elections, which will be held on 2 November.
“Fundamental freedoms were respected throughout the campaign and candidates were generally able to campaign freely. At the same time, while not in violation of the law, mayors and high-level government officials inaugurated, visited or promoted investment and infrastructure projects both before and during the official campaign period, undermining legal safeguards to prevent the misuse of public resources and contrary to international standards. Reports of alleged pressure on public sector employees and intimidation of voters and opposition candidates, as well as vote-buying by political parties, were also of concern”, it is pointed out in the assessment.
When it comes to election day, it was generally calm, though some shortcomings in procedures were noted, such as group voting and undue interference by candidate representatives, it was noted as well.
“Systemic gaps in the legal framework regulating campaign finance combined with the limited capacity of the country’s oversight bodies hindered effective scrutiny of campaign finance.
Public funds make up a significant share of overall campaign financing, but the distribution formula significantly favoured major parliamentary parties to the exclusion of smaller parties with a parliamentary group, and offered only limited opportunities to other small parties and independent candidates”, observers added.
Regarding the media landscape, the report says that it is diverse, but fragmented along political and ethnic lines.