CHISINAU – The next parliamentary elections in Moldova will be held under the mixed electoral system, Moldovan Parliament President Andrian Candu said.
“The election will be held in late 2018 under the mixed electoral system. This is a new beginning in Moldova’s political life. We are fulfilling the promise which many parties made to voters but failed to keep. We did what others should have done. We hope that this will lead to a change of political class and that members of parliament will be closer to the people, will be more incorruptible and responsible to voters,” Candu told a news conference at the parliament on Thursday after the legislature passed a bill amending the country’s electoral law.
When asked by reporters about the efficiency of the new electoral system, Candu said: “Time will show.”
“The very first elections [under the new system] are going to demonstrate the degree to which we will achieve the goals we pursue. Many of the politicians who voted against today used to stand for changing the electoral system. Many of them even earned some political capital on that. They since betrayed the idea and today, we’ve fulfilled the promise they made to their voters,” Candu said.
Candu went on to condemn “the aggressive behavior of some opposition leaders” and particularly of the Dignity and Truth Platform Party leader Andrei Nastase, who attempted to break through into parliament during Thursday’s protest.
“Everyone has the right to protest but everything must be within the law. Those who are ‘for’ and those ‘against’ must equally know that democratic rules must be obeyed and opinions of others respected. Everybody should be tolerant, should develop the country without confrontation or violence on the streets,” Candu said.
When asked by journalists about the Venice Commission recommendations disregarded by the Moldovan parliament, Candu said: “These recommendations have been 99% implemented.”
“As for the political consensus mentioned in the Venice Commission recommendations, it has always been relative. Many Moldovan bills were enacted by fewer votes from deputies. For example, the very electoral code that we have amended now was passed by 66 votes. The agreement on the association with the European Union, which is a more important document, was ratified by 59 votes. And in case of the law we have passed today, 74 deputies out of 101 voted in favor,” he said.
The ruling Democratic Party of Moldova, of which Candu is the deputy chairman, has made a compromise today, he said.
“Let me recall that the Democratic Party still stands for holding elections under the majority system. And the extra-parliamentary opposition advocates preserving the proportional representation system. Consider it a compromise we accepted by voting in favor of the mixed system,” Candu went on.
The Moldovan parliament adopted the law on the country’s transition to the mixed electoral system in the final reading on Thursday. A total of 74 deputies representing the ruling coalition and the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova voted for the bill.
The new law disregards most of the recommendations of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, which insisted that the bill not to be passed without a political consensus achieved.
