Italian election candidates whitewashed fraudulent elections

In recent years, we – the European Platform for Democratic Elections – have witnessed the increasing phenomenon of “biased observation” – a form of more politically-motivated election observation whose chief objective is to mislead the public regarding the regularity of some political process or the legitimacy of an election result. Based on the evidence collected by EPDE throughout the years, the practice of fake election observation has been particularly prevalent among Italian politicians. Based on our methodology, we have identified 40 Italian nationals taking part in such efforts.

Just last month, we have implored all national and regional parliaments of the EU and the European Parliament to undertake measures preventing their members from participating in illegitimate “election observation”, called to whitewash the so-called “referenda” planned by Russia on territories occupied during the military aggression against Ukraine.

Authoritarian regimes organize and finance the presence of international “observers” whose function is to discredit findings of independent international and domestic observation missions such as by the ODIHR-OSCE or the EU. Politically biased election observers (or “fake observers”) are often recruited by agents of those regimes operating in western countries among loyal politicians, members of parliaments, including the EP, PACE, and the OSCEPA. Being portrayed in the local media as official representatives of western democracies and established institutions, they not only help to legitimize illegitimate, illegal or fraudulent elections, but also discredit the institutions they represent.

Striking examples of this practice include the 2018 Presidential “elections” in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s “republics”, where the EPDE identified 57 “fake observers”, including current and former national and regional parliamentarians of such EU countries as France, Germany, Italy, and Belgium. Other examples include the 2020 Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, with 43 “fake observers” including current and former national and regional parliamentarians of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Greece, and Slovakia. The practice of fake election observation has been particularly prevalent among French, Italian, and German politicians (see the chart below).

We have spotted at least six of these individuals among candidates in the 2022 Italian snap Parliamentary elections. Based on their “fake observation” history, these candidates appear to have certain ties with the Kremlin and Azerbaijan. In particular:

Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove – a lawyer and a former councilor of Biella (Piedmont). In March 2018 he was elected for the first time in the Chamber of Deputies in Biella. He Participated in a biased election observation efforts directly coordinated by some senior Russian officials during the 2018 general elections in Cambodia. Andrea Delmastro is running with Fratelli d’Italia.

Paolo Grimoldi – a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy and an initiator of the parliament group “Friends of Putin” in 2014. Participated in a biased election observation efforts during the 2021 Russian parliamentary elections and the 2020 All-Russian Voting. He is running with the Lega per Salvini Premier.

Stefano Maullu – a Member of the European Parliament of the 8th parliamentary term (since 2015). Participated in the biased observation efforts during the 2018 Russian Presidential Election. Stefano Maullu is running with Fratelli d’Italia.

Osvaldo Napoli – a Member of the Italian Parliament since 2001 and a former mayor of Giaveno (1985 and 2004) and later of Valgioie (2009-2016). Participated in a biased election observation effort during the 2020 Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. He is running with Azione / Italia Viva.

Maria Rizzotti – a member of the Italy-Azerbaijan inter-parliamentary friendship group and PACE, in the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights (since 2018) and Sub-Committee on Human Rights (since 2019). Participated in the biased observation effort during the 2020 Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. She is running with Forza Italia.

Annalisa Tardino – a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. Participated in the biased observation efforts during the 2022 Parliamentary elections in Hungary. She is running with the Lega per Salvini Premier.

See our database of politically biased election observers at www.fakeobservers.org.