The Balti, Chisinau and Falesti are the most transparent localities in the Republic of Moldova, and Straseni, Falesti and Criuleni - the most transparent districts in the country in 2020, for which they will be awarded. The ranking of the most open local public authorities, made by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul" together with INEKO Slovakia was presented today, June 30, in a video conference.

"Our organization continues this year to monitor the transparency of local public authorities in the Republic of Moldova, and each ranking presented brings new challenges, but also good progress. Thus, with all the shortcomings that still exist at the local level, we want these results to be accountable, to encourage local authorities and to become more open to the citizens. We also thank the partners from Slovakia who help us to translate their methodology to the reality in our country ", stated Liubomir Chiriac, the executive director of IDIS "Viitorul".

Those 60 municipalities (40 towns and 20 largest villages/communes) and 32 rayons are evaluated, for the fourth year, and ranked in the following nine criteria of transparency: access to information, participation in decision-making, budgeting, public procurement, management of public property, professional ethics and conflict of interests, human resources, social services, investments and municipal companies in 2019. The maximum of the accrued points was 100. Thus, the most transparent localities are Balti (76 points), Chisinau (58 points) and Falesti (56 points). In turn, the most transparent local public authorities of level II are the district councils of Straseni (78 points), Falesti (61 points) and Criuleni (60 points).

According to the report on the transparency of local public administration authorities in the Republic of Moldova in 2019, the overall average transparency of 32 monitored regions is 37.67% and 24.0% in the case of cities and villages. Thus, compared to the 2018 ranking, the general transparency average increased by 0.39% for local public administrations of level II, but unfortunately, decreased by 4.47% in the case of local public authorities of level I. Among the positive examples we highlight Bălți municipality, which occupies the first position already three years, Chisinau municipality, which climbed with nine positions in the ranking compared to 2018 and Fălești city, with three positions compared to the previous ranking. Significant improvements are also found in the village of Peresecina (+28 positions and 22 percentage points), the village of Varnița (+27 positions and 24%) and the city of Anenii Noi (+27 positions and 19%). At the level of districts, the Straseni District Council occupies the first position three years in a row and the Criuleni (+14 positions and 23 percentage points), Floresti (+13 positions and 34%) and Dondușeni (+ 12 positions and 33%) districts climbed in the ranking ), is shown in the report.

"The results of this year's monitoring highlight major transparency issues for district and local public authorities, as deficiencies were found in all monitored transparency indicators. This is due to non-compliance by local public authorities with existing rules, based on some objective reasons, but also the lack of viable tools for control and accountability of those who violate the law", believes Viorel Pârvan, author of the transparency report.

According to the ranking, in 2019, seven district public authorities (22%) and 35 local public authorities (58%) did not inform the public of the draft decisions and related materials. Examples in accessing the draft decisions of the Local Council are the cities of Soroca, Ceadir - Lunga and Straseni, which have on the website several search engines for documents developed, examined and adopted, including a search engine for draft decisions. The ranking also shows that 13 district authorities (41%) and 35 local authorities (58%) did not organize public consultations in 2019. In this regard, only nine districts (Basarabeasca, Cahul, Cimișlia, Criuleni, Falesti, Leova, Soldanesti , Ștefan Vodă and Straseni) and three cities (Chisinau, Balti and Codru) posted on the web the Transparency Report for 2019. Regarding public procurement, most authorities (45 localities and 15 districts) do not publish the announcements for participation in public procurement. Only the Falesti District Council and the City Hall of Balti published on the web all the award notices for 2019. At the same time, although it is important that the authorities publish public procurement contracts on their websites so that civil society can monitor them, this is not made. Respectively, only on the web page of Bălți municipality we find the public procurement contracts.

Regarding budgetary transparency, 34 local authorities of level I and 25 districts published on the web the budget for 2020. The study also highlights the fact that no locality has published a Code of Ethics for local elected officials, and at only the district councils of Cahul and Riscani have such codes on the web pages. Similarly, 18 districts (56%) did not publish on the web and made public the district's anti-corruption and integrity plans, and at the local level 93% of cities and villages did not develop and publish documents to ensure integrity. In this sense, only the Balti Town Hall published on the website the Local Strategic Plan for Anti-Corruption and Integrity Actions of Balti, the Report on the implementation of the local anti-corruption plan of Balti in 2019, the list of gifts and their beneficiaries for 2018- 2019, the composition of the Commission of evidence and evaluation of gifts. The town halls of Cimișlia and Ialoveni have published the Local Strategic Plan for Anti-Corruption Actions, and the village of Varnița has announced the Regulation on integrity warnings and the composition of the Commission for the registration of gifts.

The ranking of the most transparent local public authorities also shows that 49 town halls and 24 district councils did not make public through the website the results of vacant public positions in 2019 and only the Straseni District Council and the Balti Town Hall did so.

Other chapters analyzed are "public services" and "investments, municipal enterprises and participation in companies". Therefore, 52% of the districts and 41% of the municipalities do not publish any information on the existing social services in the territory. Also, only 11 town halls and seven district councils publish on the web the information on programs and projects, whose beneficiaries or executors they are. At the same time, only the Straseni District Council and the City Hall of Falesti publish all annual financial analyzes of municipal enterprises and majority-owned companies.

Top of the most transparent municipalities in the Republic of Moldova can be found on the open data portal: http://localtransparency.viitorul.org/.

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The initiative "Supporting democracy, independence and transparency of key public institutions in Moldova" is implemented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", in partnership with the Institute for Economic and Social Reforms in Slovakia (INEKO) and is financially supported by the Official Development Assistance Program of the Slovak Republic (SlovakAid). The initiative aims to inform the public about the development of democracy and the independence of key state institutions, as well as to improve the transparency and financial stability of local public authorities and state-owned enterprises in the Republic of Moldova.

For details, contact Ana – Maria Veverita: ana.veverita@viitorul.org or at phone number (0 22) 221844