Moldovan parliament adopts draft of new Electoral Code in first reading

Chisinau, 28 July /MOLDPRES/ - The parliament adopted a draft of the new Electoral Code in the first reading today. The document was backed with the votes of 54 MPs.  

The draft was presented by the head of the parliament’s juridical commission for appointments and immunities, Olesea Stamate. ‘’The goal of the legislative initiative is to improve the electoral procedures, remove the ambiguities and contradictions from the Electoral Code and other laws, as well as implement the recommendations formulated in the reports of national and international election monitoring missions,’‘ Stamate said.   

Among the authors’ proposals, there is possibility that, in emergency situations, such as pandemic or emergency state, the elections should be held during two days – Saturday and Sunday - in some electoral constituencies. This is to be established under decision by the Central Electoral Commission, 25 days before the day of elections at the latest.   

The document also regulates the financing of initiative groups and electoral campaigns. At the same time, the draft law establishes the way of considering and settling of contestations, through correlating the provisions of the Administrative Code with the ones of the Electoral Code.  

As for the parliamentary elections, the draft’s authors are set to extend to 111 the maximal number of people who can be included in the list of candidates of a political party or electoral bloc. Also, the list of candidates will be able to be changed ten days before the day of the elections at the latest.  

The document also proposes the revision of the special conditions for the candidates for the mayor office. Thus, the minimal age will be reduced from 25 to 23 years. At the same time, the candidates for the mayor position should have general secondary education, specialized secondary education and higher education. 

The provisions of the new Electoral Code will be subjected to public consultations and afterwards the draft law will be submitted to parliament for adoption, in the second reading.

Photo: Parliament