As of 12:00hrs on Sunday, the VotCorect election watchdog coalition received over 100 calls from observers and citizens, with most of the fraud notifications being related to the continuation of electioneering, posting stamped ballot papers, as well as organisational problems at polling places, including inadequate ballot boxes and seals.

'As of 12:00hrs, the VotCorect Coalition centralised a series of irregularities and incidents reported by observers and citizens through the Vote Monitor application, call centre 0800 460 002, which recorded over 100 calls, and the online platform www.votcorect.ro. Most of the complaints are related to the continuation electioneering, posting ballots with the electoral option clearly marked (numerous complaints sent on the votcorect.ro portal), as well as organisational problems at polling places, including inadequate ballot boxes or seals. Most of the questions asked by voters at the call centre service regard the special ballot box, the documents on which they can vote or certain irregularities related to the organisation of voting at polling stations,' Septimius Parvu, coordinator of the electoral program Expert Forum, reported.

In a few cases in Bucharest, observers said that they were identified by gendarmes/police officers, and members of the electoral bureaus or law enforcement agencies asked to photograph their identity documents.

'Observers from Ilfov County (Glina, 1 Decembrie and Copaceni) told us that they were asked by the law enforcement agencies which organisation accredited them, as they have to report further - this procedure is not regulated anywhere. The identification of observers by the law enforcement agencies, including at the request of the station chairs, without a valid reason and outside the legal framework, is abusive. We ask all the institutions involved to refrain from such actions, as such procedures are not regulated by the electoral legislation and can be intimidating for observers.'

VotCorect received notifications related to two cases in which Tik Tok live broadcasts were made - one in section 134 (Curtea de Arges) and one from the Aurel Vlaicu College in Sector 1, Bucharest, says Septimius Pârvu. In the first case, the Alliance for the Unon of Romanians (AUR) official did a live from the polling station, and the filming was stopped after VoteCorect team notified the Arges County Electoral Bureau (BEJ). In the second case, a voter did a live from the high school lobby, filmed the voters and continued to campaign for AUR.

'We have notified the district offices about these actions that can violate the legislation on personal data, intimidate voters and represent the continuation campaigning on election day,' said the representative of Expert Forum.

According to the collected through the VoteMonitor application, the opening of polling stations was positively evaluated (good or very good) in over 99% of over 250 polling stations observed, including on Friday and Saturday abroad. In two cases, observers reported the presence of unauthorised persons at the opening. With the exception of two polling stations that opened before 07:00hrs, all the polling stations observed opened on time.

The VotCorect Coalition is made up of Expert Forum, Centre for Civic Resources, Civica, Centre for the Study of Democracy, Civic Root, Electoral Observatory, Federation of Romanian Law Students' Associations, and Code for Romania. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Dana Piciu; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)