Ballots had to be stamped by a member of the polling station committee after the voter had made his/her choice. This meant that the committee could see the voter’s choice in many cases, and, moreover, experience showed that it was often easy to see through the slim ballot papers and to see whom the elector had voted for. Furthermore, some political figures were permitted to deliberately show their ballot on TV, and again family voting was common. This provision and these practices both clearly violate the secrecy of the vote, particularly in the Moldavian context where a well-organised and omnipresent party is able to put much pressure on the whole electoral process. All of these are issues which undermine the fundamental principle of secret ballot.