CEC DENIES PERMISSION FOR HOLDING "EXIT POLL BY TELEPHONE"

On Wednesday, Moldova's Central Election Commission did not permit to conduct an "exit poll by telephone" on the presidential election day of November 1. The CEC arrived at a conclusion that such a telephone interviewing of citizens is a violation of the secrecy of the ballot.

"Secret vote is a guarantee of the voter's freedom of expression, on whose basis the society forms the country's state power, and telephone numbers are personified. Such method of interviewing presents a risk of violation of the secret character of voting, i.e. it permits to connect the voter's choice and his telephone number, which gives the possibility to identify the personality concerned", the CEC wrote in its press release.

Besides this, the press release pointed out that the exit poll organizers did not present to the CEC the methodology of their research (age, gender, address etc.). So, the CEC emphasized, such kind of poll by telephone cannot be equivalent to an exit poll - interviewing of voters at the exit from polling stations.