Moldovan parliament convenes in meeting to supplement Electoral Code

Chisinau, Oct. 4 /MOLDPRES/- Parliament will convene in a plenary session to supplement the Electoral Code with provisions that will bring it into line with the considerations held by the Constitutional Court yesterday. Speaker Igor Grosu made the statement.

The law will set the criteria for individualization and the possibility to contest administrative decisions, as follows from the Court's decision and ECHR jurisprudence.

"Criteria for individualizing the restrictions on the right to be elected will be set up first of all. These will mainly refer to the issues that expressly result from the decision of the Constitutional Court declaring the unconstitutionality of Shor Party. Also, the law supplementing the Electoral Code will also provide for the effective judicial remedy - the possibility to contest the administrative decisions by which the respective restrictions will be applied at the Chisinau Court of Appeal," said Grosu.

"Organized criminal groups are not compatible with democracy. The Constitutional Court made this very clear when it declared Shor group as unconstitutional. Criminal groups threaten national security and the process of free and fair elections", he said.

The official noted that the restrictions to run in the local elections of November 5, 2023 will clearly refer to persons who cannot be admitted as electoral competitors.

"It is about accused, suspected people of committing crimes that were mentioned as an argument by the Court when declaring the party's unconstitutionality, they directly carried out actions that were arguments retained in the decision of the CC declaring the party's unconstitutionality, they were excluded from the previous election as a result of the violation of the principle of illegal financing committed intentionally or were included in the international sanctions contained in the CC decision. The state institutions - the General Police Inspectorate, the National Anti-Corruption Center, the Intelligence and Security Service, the General Prosecutor's Office - will present the information on the persons who fall under these criteria. The Central Electoral Commission, based on this information, will adopt the list of persons who cannot be registered as electoral competitors and present it to the electoral bodies, which will reject the mentioned persons as electoral competitors or cancel the registration of the competitor if he is already registered. These decisions of the electoral bodies can be contested at the Chisinau Court of Appeal within 1 day from the date of adoption of the decision", he said.