An international conference entitled “New Technologies in the Compilation and Use of Voter Lists: Evolutions and Perspectives” took place on April 21st in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. The purpose of the conference was to acquire comparative regional experience in the field of voter registration (VR), as well as debate the most problematic issues of this process in Moldova. Representatives of the electoral management bodies from Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina gave comprehensive presentations about the use of the new technologies in the electoral process of their countries. A staff member from the IFES office in Moldova presented recommendations resulting from a functional review of the VR process in Moldova, which was conducted this past January by an IFES VR expert.

Acting Moldovan President, Mihai Ghimpu, and the Moldovan Prime Minister, Vladimir Filat, provided opening remarks along with representatives of the Moldovan CEC, IFES, and UNDP. In their speeches, Ghimpu and Filat emphasized the importance of improvements to the Moldovan voter lists, along with the creation of the first accurate and complete Electronic Voter Registry.

The conference was organized by the Moldovan Central Electoral Commission (CEC) in collaboration with UNDP and IFES. It was attended by more than 100 representatives of the Moldovan political elite, civil society, key governmental institutions, international organizations and embassies, electoral management bodies and observation missions from other countries. Regrettably, many international participants could not attend due to the climate situation in Europe. Nevertheless the conference marked an important step in advancing voter registration reform debate in Moldova, something that will be a priority for the country in the months and years ahead.

Recently, the Moldovan CEC, with the assistance of international organizations, including IFES, started the process of voter registration reform.