Workshop for judges specialized in the examination of electoral disputes

At the National Institute of Justice, the workshop titled "Some practices regarding the examination and resolution of electoral disputes in the context of the elections of the President of the Republic of Moldova and the republican constitutional referendum 2024" took place. The activity took place on Friday, September 13, 2024, and aimed at strengthening the capacity of the judiciary to handle potential electoral disputes. Among the beneficiaries of the training were judges specialized in examining administrative litigation cases from the Supreme Court of Justice, the Chisinau Court of Appeal and the Chisinau District Court, as well as members of the Central Electoral Commission.

At the opening, the participants were greeted by the head of the Training and Research Department of the National Institute of Justice, Ecaterina Popa, and by the head of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau, Falk Lange. In their speeches, the importance of continuous training of magistrates in the respective field and the need for a uniform and professional approach to electoral disputes to ensure the integrity of the democratic process was emphasized.

The subjects of the training sessions were mostly concerned with the problems arising from the examination of appeals and cases related to administrative disputes outside the electoral periods, including the non-uniform jurisprudence regarding electoral disputes, as well as the particularities of their resolution by the courts.

During the workshop, the second module of the electronic course "Solving electoral disputes" was presented, developed by the Council of Europe Project "Improving electoral practice in the Republic of Moldova, phase III" in cooperation with the National Institute of Justice, the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova and the Center for Continuous Training in the Electoral Field. This compartment complements the first module dedicated to ECtHR jurisprudence in the electoral field, launched in 2022. The second module covers a wide spectrum of electoral justice from the introduction to electoral law and electoral legislation to dispute resolution procedures, national and international jurisprudence, verification of the legality of electoral acts, the voting process for citizens from abroad and from the left of the Dniester, etc. Participants will study independently, on the ILIAS e-learning platform of INJ, the new module of the electronic course.

The workshop was organized by the National Institute of Justice, the Central Electoral Commission and the Council of Europe Project "Improving electoral practice in the Republic of Moldova, phase III".