“Despite all of the drawbacks, the elections process was competitive, and this allowed voters to express their political preferences… At the same time, significant abuses of power by some officials significantly affected the fairness of the whole election process. The introduction of single-mandate electoral districts had a pretty negative impact on the election given the political situation and specific experience of the country. This intensified political polarization in the country and increased risks linked with vote buying, the use of black PR, intimidation of potential candidates and the use of administrative resource, all of which was demonstrated by the reports coming in.”
Markus Meckel, Chairman of the Civil Society Election Observation Mission (CSEOM)
