PUBLIC DEBATE ON ELECTORAL SYSTEM CHANGE HELD IN GAGAUZIA CAPITAL

A public debate on the disputable question of changing electoral system in Moldova was held on Wednesday in Comrat, the administrative center of the southern Moldovan autonomous region of Gagauzia. The event was organized by the Promo-Lex Association.

Opening the debate, MP Sergiu Sirbu, a Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party, said that the Democrats-proposed draft law on the system change does not regulate in whatever way the post-election activities of Parliament members.

“We believe that it is necessary to recall those deputies who do not fulfill the people’s will. But the status of a deputy and the deputy’s plenary powers are stipulated by the Law on the Status of a Deputy and by the Constitution. That’s what really needs to be changed! According to our bill, we propose to establish a quota for deputies from Gagauzia. The Venice Commission recommended to use such practice with respect to all national minorities”, said the parliamentarian.

Sergiu Sirbu emphasized that in the Venice Commission’s recommendations, there was no categorical demand not to change the current electoral system.

“I participated in that [June 16] discussion in Venice. The Commission did not recommend anything of such kind”, maintained Sergiu Sirbu.

Another Democratic MP, Corneliu Dudnic, reminded that the transition to the mixed electoral system was voted for by 74 deputies of the 101-member Parliament of Moldova, “and those were not only 39 Democrats and 24 Socialists. That’s what is called a consensus on a principal question”.

Dudnic criticized the behavior of the opposition “who are a priori against everything what the Democratic Party proposes”.

Chairperson of the parliamentary Communist faction Inna Supac offered an opinion that such an impressive “consensus” during the first reading of the DP bill on the transition to the mixed electoral system was achieved thanks to the votes of the deputies “bought up by the ruling majority”.

“It is my conviction that honest, decent people will eventually rescue Moldova from its current status of “a captured state”. There are such people in the Moldovan society, and they constitute a majority. But the real trouble of the honest people, unlike with scoundrels, is that the latter ones are better organized. So, I strongly doubt that with the mixed electoral system the honest people will ever have a chance to get to parliament”, said the Communist MP.

She was supported by Alexandru Slusari, Deputy Chairman of the political party called Platform Demnitate si Adevar [DA, “Dignity and Justice”].

He said: “If the majority adopts this law, according to which deputies will be elected in the first round of elections straightaway, than the presence of honest people in the Moldovan Parliament is likely to be minimal. Gagauzia has a wiser and fairer law stipulating the holding of two rounds of voting in electoral constituencies. But even with this scheme, money plays an essential role for achieving electoral success”.

Deputy Chairman of the Partidul Nostru (Our Party) Dumitru Ciubasenco named as “a civil war in the Moldovan society” the demand by Moldovan politicians to change the current electoral system one year before an election.

“This was has been organized by the Democratic Party and the Party of Socialists. I think that the Parliament will eventually approve these changes proposed by the said two parties. But why has the ruling coalition decided to throw the Socialists and Dodon “under the tank” with this mixed system? Because the Socialists may tell EU supervisors to go to hell, whereas the pro-European coalition may not. If the electoral system is changed, Our Party will officially present its position on its participation in elections”, said Dumitru Ciubasenco.