Election Integrity and Democracy in Republic of Moldova (ELIDEM)
Innovative components:
1. It is one of the few systematic attempts to map and understand electoral integrity from citizens’ perspective in the Republic of Moldova.
2. This project provides a rigorous way to assess the understanding of electoral clientelism several months before and immediately after presidential elections in the Republic of Moldova.
3. This project assesses the preferences of people in the Republic of Moldova towards alternative models of democracy and democratic innovations. It examines individual, institutional and systemic determinants as potential explanations for the preferences.
The project is implemented by the Centre for Political and Administrative Studies (CPAS) at Moldova State University in partnership with the Center for Governance and Security Policies at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj.
The project received funding from the Black Sea Trust for Regional cooperation between July and December 2024.
ABOUT ELIDEM
This project seeks to map the election integrity components and attitudes towards democracy in the Republic of Moldova, explaining what makes citizens averse to practices that endanger election integrity such as fraud or electoral clientelism and what makes citizens support specific models of democracy (representative vs. direct vs. deliberative). It will involve local consultations and field research in the summer (before the presidential election) and in the autumn (after the election) plus a population survey around the election time in October 2024. It aims to produce actionable recommendations and will inform citizen electoral observation activities in subsequent electoral rounds, to counter more effectively electoral malpractices with embedded insights into the specific context of the Republic of Moldova.
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PUBLICATIONS
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Articles
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PROJECT TEAM
Natalia Putină
Research coordinator
Natalia is the co-founder of the Centre for Political and Administrative Studies (CPAS) and Associate Professor at the Department of Political and Administrative Sciences and the Department of International Relations (2003-present), Vice-dean at the Faculty of International Relations, Political and Administrative Sciences, Moldova State University (2016-2024), PhD, and Senior Researcher at the Scientific Laboratory "The Sociology of Politics," Moldova State University (2012-2020). Her primary research areas include Ethnic Minorities, Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity; Migration policies, diaspora studies and diaspora engagement in development, and Conflicts in the Post-Soviet Space.
Mariana Iațco
Senior researcher
Mariana is the co-founder of the Centre for Political and Administrative Studies (CPAS), Associate Professor at the Department of Political and Administrative Sciences, Moldova State University since 2021 and Senior Scientific Researcher at the Laboratory "Sociology of Politics" since 2010. Her research focuses on national public social policies, migration processes, and the labor market, with extensive experience in policy monitoring and analytical analyses. She was part of the expert team for the National Human Development Report 2015/2016, supported by UNDP Moldova, serving as a migration expert.
Victoria Bevziuc
Research fellow
Victoria is a Lecturer in Political Science at the Moldova State University since 2006. Her research expertise spans migration policies, climate policies, geopolitics, and the COVID-19 crisis, as well as conflicts in the post-Soviet space. These areas form the foundation of her academic inquiry, where she provides in-depth analysis of how global and regional challenges impact political dynamics and public policies, particularly in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states. Her work offers critical perspectives on geopolitical shifts and the policy responses to emerging crises, making her a valuable contributor to academic debates and policy discussions.
Sergiu Gherghina
External senior researcher
Sergiu is Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Glasgow and the Director of the Center for Governance and Security Policies at Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca. His research interests lie in party politics, legislative and voting behavior, democratization, and democratic innovations.
Dragoș Șamșudean
Research fellow
DragoÈ™ is Teaching Assistant at the Department of International Studies and Contemporary History, BabeÈ™-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca and researcher at the Center for Governance and Security Policies since 2022. He holds a PhD in International Relations from BabeÈ™-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca (2024). His research interests are religious actors and digital religion, gender, migration, security and political discourse. His research lies at the crossroads between areas of studies such as international relations, security studies and religious studies.
Edith Mănălăchioaiei
Research fellow
Edith is a PhD candidate at the Department of International Studies and Contemporary History, BabeÈ™-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca and researcher at the Center for Governance and Security Policies since 2022. Her research interests are the study of populism, people's political attitudes, voting behavior and European Union policies.
