Moldovan central electoral commission motivates rejection of registration request of group for referendum to repeal mixed vote

Chisinau, 17 January /MOLDPRES/ – The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) announced that it rejected registration of the initiative group for holding a referendum on repeal of the mixed vote because of discrepancies between the text of draft law voted by participants in the constituent assembly and one submitted to CEC.

According to the CEC’s information and media communication service, in such cases, data substitution is inadmissible. The members of the CEC also found a discrepancy in number of participants of constituent assembly, as indicated in the minutes. Thus, during the meeting, there were declared 653 people in the hall, while 735 persons participated in the voting procedure, including nomination of members of the initiative group.

Similarly, the CEC has determined that the decision of the initiative group on the election of the Executive Bureau, countersigned by the elected chairman, is missing. It also lacks the decision of the executive office to designate the treasurer in relations with the CEC in financing of referendum campaign.

The remarks were made after several representatives of civil society said that "the CEC's decision is antidemocratic and contrary to citizens' will, and the given reasons are mere pretexts."

Interviewed by the agency, head of CEC, Alina Russu, specified that the institution has rejected accusations against electoral body. "The process of examining the request of the initiative group on the conduct of the Republican legislative referendum was transparent and professional, and the decision adopted was brought to the attention of public opinion and representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Moldova," said Russu.

Also, official said that if the group would file a new application for registration, it to be examined. "All papers will be checked and if the required procedures are followed, then we are going to expose upon it," said Alina Russu.

After rejecting the request, several representatives of civil society announced on 16 January 2018 that they proposed to create a new initiative group to launch another legislative referendum to repeal mixed electoral system, which was voted, in July 2017, in its final reading by the Parliament.

(Reporter A. Ciobanu, editor L. Alcaza)