Politics

DRAFT LAW ON ELECTORAL SYSTEM CHANGE WILL BE ADOPTED BY END OF PARLIAMENTARY SESSION – ANDRIAN CANDU

19 june, 2017

The bill on changing the Moldovan electoral system shall be approved before the end of the current Spring-Summer Session of the Parliament i.e. by the end of July, Parliament Chairman Andrian Candu stated in the Chisinau International Airport last Saturday upon his arrival from Venice, where he attended a meeting of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.

“The Commission put forward very important technical-legal recommendations. They pertain to the formation of electoral constituencies in the republic, including the Transnistrian region and abroad, the representation of women in the Moldovan Parliament, possible lowering of the electoral barrier and the order of financing of election campaigns”, said Andrian Candu.

In his words, Venice Commission experts spoke out a recommendation to prevent whatever pressing on the Central Election Commission at the forming of electoral constituencies.

“For this, we were recommended to stipulate in the law strict principles of the formation of electoral constituencies so that not to leave this at the discretion of the Central Election Commission. Besides this, the Venice Commission recommended that at changing the electoral system, the guarantees of women’s representation in politics should be preserved. Moldova is among the first 5 countries of the world in terms of guarantees of gender equality. And it is very important to preserve these provisions at transition to the mixed electoral system. There is a number of other recommendations, which we undertook to fulfill”, said the Moldovan Speaker.

Andrian Candu recognized that the discussion in Venice and the Commission’s conclusion were quite critical, “but actually we did not expect anything else. We went to Venice not for receiving medals but for discussing and improving our bills”.

In his words, the Venice Commission indicated the need to have a public consensus at implementing the electoral system reform, and recommended not to conduct the reform in the conditions of polarization of the society.

“As for consensus, the discussion of this term took nearly an hour at the Commission meeting. Consensus is a relative notion because there cannot be a 100% support of a bill. At the same time, we believe that there is a consensus: opinion polls show that the electoral system reform is being supported by more than 60% population of Moldova and by two-thirds of all-level mayors. And in our 101-member Parliament, 74 deputies voted for the said bills in their first reading”, said the Speaker.

In his words, Moldova is a kind of the society, in which polarization never ends, on whatever questions, “So, if we wait for a complete silence and consensus, we would never be able to conduct reforms. In such case, we would have never been able to implement the pension reform, the government reform and all other reforms. We proceed from our having a majority in parliament for taking decisions”.

Candu particularly emphasized: the Venice Commission recognized that the changing or not changing the current electoral system is the Republic of Moldova’s sovereign right.

“The Venice Commission may not impose this or that electoral system on a country. The Commission may only give recommendations for improving a bill. We have undertaken to take note of these recommendations”, stated Andrian Candu.

He also said that according to all recommendations, amendments to the electoral legislation must be adopted not shorter than one year before elections.

“As the next ordinary parliamentary election is to be held at the end of 2018, it would be logical to adopt the law in a second reading by the end of the current Spring-Summer Session of the Parliament i.e. by the end of July. We will do our best to make this with the observance of all the above recommendations and of domestic legal procedures”, said Speaker Andrian Candu.

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