Project Summary:

The "Strengthening democratic resilience in Moldova" (phase III) project aims to fortify Moldova's democratic processes against internal and external threats such as cyber operations, information manipulation, and illicit political financing. The project focuses on three main areas: improving oversight of political finance to curb illicit activities and enhance transparency; strengthening electoral institutions to withstand cyber and information threats; deepening civic engagement to foster an informed and inclusive electorate. The project aligns with the ODIHR and Venice Commission recommendations and supports the implementation of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) and Centre for Continuous Electoral Training (CCET) Strategic Plans (2024-2027). Through collaborative efforts with government bodies, civil society, and international partners, the project seeks to build a resilient democratic framework in Moldova, ensuring the integrity and security of electoral processes while promoting inclusive participation and civic education.

Objectives:

• Improved oversight of political finance and parties, and campaigns;
• Democratic institutions strengthened and more resilient;
• Improved civic engagement and inclusivity.
   

Expected results:

• Enhanced political finance oversight by strengthening enforcement for vote-buying and providing advisory and program support to implement political finance recommendations;
• The framework for managing contestants improved through organization of stakeholder discourse activities aimed at knowledge dissemination and consensus building, as well as topical academic research;
• CEC’s digital electoral management capabilities secured and strengthened, including through support to upgrading State Automated Information System “Elections” (SAISE) to further digitize and enhance the electoral process, streamlining electoral processes and political finance oversight;
• CEC’s strategic communication capacities enhanced by developing and using new outreach, dialogue and discussion tools;
• Enhance CEC core functions which involves reducing voter registry inflation, automating CEC’s complaint management process, strengthening district electoral commissions’ capacities, particularly in political finance and results certification, and enhancing CCET operational training;
• Electoral assistance coordination via the Electoral Partners Platform further enhanced;
• Civic education system consolidated through continued support to implementing electoral education curriculum;
• Electoral processes made more inclusive by carrying out behavioural change campaigns and developing capacities of CSOs to pro-actively engage in civic and electoral education;
• Women’s political participation improved via perception change campaigns and policy and legal framework interventions;
• Tech-facilitated gender-based violence and hate speech addressed with the help of AI monitoring tools;
• Electoral information integrity in electoral processes strengthened with the use of fact-checking tools;
• Strengthen capacities to monitor political parties and election campaigns, especially during the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Accomplishments:

• Facilitated the adoption of Law 100/2025, which established robust legal safeguards against opaque online advertising, unregulated third-party campaigning, and risks associated with digital political communication;
• Strengthened transparency and accountability in political finance reporting through the operationalization of the upgraded Financial Control Module, reinforcing institutional integrity and public trust in electoral processes;
• Improved CEC’s reporting tools, analyzing capacities and inter-agency coordination and that enabled an elevenfold increase in registered administrative cases and a fourfold increase in sanctions for political finance violations compared to 2023;
• Operationalized a dedicated expert taskforce that provided legal support to fortify the political finance oversight legislation;
• Delivered a comprehensive package of technological solutions to enhance transparency, resilience, and public trust in the electoral process. This included modernizing the State Automated Information System “Elections” (SAISE), deploying real-time results and turnout visualization tools, and strengthening cybersecurity measures that proved crucial on election day to ensure uninterrupted access to electoral data. As a result, the system successfully mitigated large-scale cyberattacks and maintained continuous availability of the real-time results platform, which served over 576,000 users during the elections;
• Strengthened the institutional capacity of law enforcement agencies by equipping 1,517 police officers and specialized personnel in the National Anti-Corruption Center and National Integrity Agency with advanced technical skills to detect and trace illicit political finance, specifically targeting the use of virtual assets and cryptocurrencies;
• Initiated a comprehensive audit of the SAISE system to benchmark digital electoral management against European Union standards and identify areas for technological hardening;
• Implemented a nationwide multi-channel civic education and communication campaign and engaged 52,450 individuals through in-person outreach across 12 districts;
• Equipped nearly 100 secondary teachers and 10 university professors with modern civic education tools, enabling the delivery of elective electoral courses in over 20 schools;
• Conducted accessibility audits for 1,988 polling stations, creating a data-driven foundation for infrastructure modernization and the installation of access ramps for voters with disabilities;
• Advanced gender equality in electoral processes by generating evidence-based knowledge through a series of comprehensive studies on gender perceptions, electoral platforms, women candidates, and the gender sensitivity of the electoral environment. These studies provided critical data and insights that inform policy dialogue and guide future project interventions aimed at promoting inclusive and gender-responsive electoral systems.