Moldovan electoral body's head says legal negligence in electoral matters dangerous premise for rule of law state

Chisinau, 19 January /MOLDPRES/ – The exclusive interview to the State Information Agency (AIS) MOLDPRES of Chairman of Central Electoral Commission (CEC), Alina Russu.

MOLDPRES: Year 2018 is an electoral one that is why we consider it necessary to have an interview with the head of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), Alina Russu. As such, taking advantage of your presence in studio of MOLDPRES we will talk about how the CEC prepares for election year 2018. Before going on, I should like to ask you to explain why CEC members refused to register an initiative group on organizing a legislative referendum to repeal the mixed electoral system. Over the past few days, members of this initiative group said the decision would have been illegal, abusive and political. What are your comments on it?

A.R.: Year 2018 began with election events and will be one that will have such events abundantly. All CEC adopted decisions and the one of 12 January 2018 on rejection of the application for registration of the initiative group are not an exception, they are debated in public meetings and adopted in strict accordance with the law. What happened is negligence in electoral matters, being a dangerous element and a prerequisite for the rule of law.

M.: Explain it, please.

"Negligence in electoral matters is a dangerous element and premise for the rule of law."

A.R.: The frivolous attitude of event organizers, held in 2017, which laid the foundation for initiating and conducting a national legislative referendum, led to that negligence. More violations of the provisions of the Electoral Code (CE) and provisions of legislative acts were identified in the application group’s registration, from the materials submitted, it was noticed that the initiative group requested the organization of a national legislative referendum, which means that the citizens of Moldova are called in front of poll – boxes to adopt a law.

M.: But the right to legislative initiative is held by MPs, president of state, government and parliamentary assembly of the Gagauz region ...

A.R.: The Constitution of Moldova (CRM) stipulates that the right to legislative initiative is held by those ones listed by you. The CE provides for types of national referendums – there are four: constitutional referendum, legislative referendum, consultative referendum and referendum to dismiss the President of Moldova. Here is a discrepancy and an error in the current regulations regarding the indisputable right of citizens to any type of referendum. The members of the initiative group decided to hold a legislative referendum, not a consultative one.

M.: Here is where the error occurred ...

"The Election Code does not regulate which authority issues the legal expertise of a referendum"

A.R.: It is not an error – it is the decision of the initiative group to determine what type of referendum it intends to set. In the context, we examined the documents submitted to CEC. On the part of the procedures, the legal order has been respected, but the Electoral Code does not regulate the authority that issues the legal expertise regarding the conformity of the draft law submitted to the referendum with the legal requirements or legislative techniques and may enter into a legislative procedure.

M.: Is it a legal error made by the initiative group’s experts?

A.R.: In the decision adopted by CEC, all detected violations and irregularities can be identified. I did not give priority to one violation or the other, from CEC’s point of view any violation leads to consequences. The Electoral Code provides that CEC, within 15 days of documents’ submission, adopts a decision to register or reject initiative group, no other legal possibility for action by CEC is provided for in the Electoral Code.

M.: Chairman of the initiative group, Stefan Gligor, told press that a new group would most likely be formed, which would once again ask repealing the mixed electoral system.

“I recommend the initiative group to have legal responsibility.”

A.R.: I would recommend to initiative group that it has legal responsibility in electoral matters for observing all international standards applied in the electoral and referendum areas to be applied. If we are talking about a national legislative referendum and recommendations from the Venice Commission regarding the modification of electoral system, then it can not be fined 12 months before election day. Therefore, cumulatively and without prioritizing certain aspects, the initiative group should consider all those recommendations.

M.: Which does presuppose it, depending on the presence of legal errors, could it be accepted a second attempt to register or not?

A.R.: I turn to say, CEC can adopt one of these decisions – it depends only on correctness of the documents presented and the way it meets the rigors of the law. The populism should not prevail over reason and responsibility.

M.: You talked about populism. I find that the same people who are now militating against the previous vote did in favour of it.

"Populism should not prevail over reason and responsibility."

A.R.: If we look at the events that took place over recent few years in terms of electoral processes, we will notice that several groups who were asking for initiation of electoral ballots turned into political projects. I would not wonder if, during the parliamentary elections in 2018, some members of this initiative group will be present on the lists of candidates. We are in an electoral year and we will have many surprises. I hope that the CEC team will have intelligence and professionalism to resist all the risks and challenges made to denigrate this public institution and electoral process as a whole.

M.: Let us move on to another aspect of the new Electoral Code. Can a citizen participate in parliamentary elections and on national list of a party and in uninominal constituency? Can there be such surprises?

A.R.: The  parliamentary elections 2018 will be organized on the basis of the new provisions of the Election Code, which provide for 51 uninominal constituencies and a single national constituency. The candidates in uninominal constituencies may be independent candidates or appointed by political parties as regards national constituency, where electoral candidates will be only political parties. The independent candidates can not run in several major constituencies designated by different political parties. But, as such, a citizen can run in a majority constituency as independent and proportional constituency on the list of a political party.

M.: The experts talk about growing importance of local mass media in upcoming parliamentary elections. The regulatory activity of the radio or television stations is done by the Audiovisual Coordinating Council (CCA). Will CEC have a joint meeting with CCA to develop a code of conduct for audiovisual institutions in electoral campaign? Do you think that the new anti-propaganda law can counteract possible external interference in electoral campaign or is there still a need for a regulation on radio and TV stations? “The electoral campaign will start in the first week of February”

A.R.: The modification of the Electoral Code led to the change of the CEC's activity in four departments, so part of the CEC's activity will be directed to adjust the state information system Elections, we will adjust all the regulations and instructions applicable to elections, launch a civic information and education campaign through which citizens know what are electoral procedures and how elections will be organized and we will have the training of all the electoral subjects. The mass media is an important participant in the electoral process. Supposingly, we will have 51 uninominal constituencies, the role of local info media will grow and be an essential one. The CEC had communication with the CCA on regulation of the audiovisual activity in electoral campaign, but also for observing the code of ethics and electoral conduct by electoral contestants and mass media.

M.: You spoke about launching a civic education campaign. In my opinion, this campaign is absolutely necessary, but I think it should be launched much earlier.

A.R.: The civic education activity and the information campaign on constitutional political rights of citizens is a continuous activity. The attempt to return to old electoral system was not completed, because the repeal of a law does not automatically lead to the entry into force of provisions that existed until the repeal. That, by analogy, is also found in the case of normative acts.

M.: The reproduction of the Electoral Code is in fact the repeal of all the laws that led to its modification?

A.R.: The republishing of the Electoral Code led to abolition of the laws that changed the electoral system. You can not repeat twice the same law.

M.: Can not you repeal what is already abrogated?

A.R.: Exactly. The repeal of a legal rule does not automatically lead to the entry into force and application of the rule that had existed before:

M.: When do you start the citizens’ info campaign on parliamentary elections in 2018?

A.R.: The information campaign will start in the first week of February, when we celebrate international election day.

M.: We are approaching the end of the interview. We prepared some questions on financing the electoral campaign. For political parties it is relatively clear how to fund the campaign. What does the law say about the financing of electoral contestants participating in elections in uninominal constituencies? Will there be a financial ceiling for the amounts spent on electoral purposes?

"The 51 uninominal constituencies will have a different financial ceiling"

A.R.: The CEC will obligatorily set a ceiling for the financial means that can be used by an electoral competitor during the electoral campaign held in a uninominal district – each of these 51 uninominal constituencies will have its own ceiling. We will have a financial ceiling for the national constituency.

M.: The result of the parliamentary elections in 2018 will influence the way of financing the political parties which will receive state funding, depending on the result obtained in the parliamentary and local elections. What will happen to MPs elected in uninominal constituencies which receive financial compensation for the sums spent during the election campaign?

A.R.: The independent candidates, regardless of parliamentary, local or presidential elections, are not beneficiaries of state budgetary allocations. The law on political parties regulates that only political parties can benefit from budget subsidies. Therefore, in order to receive these subsidies from the state, two apply criteria: performances in the parliamentary and local elections.

M.: Thank you and I wish you that the coming year is one with fewer challenges for CEC.

A.R.: On behalf of CEC, I want to assure you that we have a firm commitment to democratic values ​​and that we are guiding the law norms in our work. I assure you that we will have enough capacity to be a transparent institution capable of fulfilling its competencies in the law established mode.