Representatives of all Moldovan parliamentary factions meet joint delegation of Venice Commission, OSCE/ODIHR

Chisinau, 29 January /MOLDPRES/ - Representatives of all parliamentary factions today met the joint delegation of the Venice Commission and OSCE/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), on a fact-collecting visit to Moldova on 28-30 January.     

According to the parliament’s communication and public relations department, the events took place in the context of the preparation by the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR of a common notification on the amended electoral legislation, due to be approved at a meeting on 16-17 March 2018.

The sides discussed procedural aspects on the enforcement of the new electoral system, including the ones dealing with the delimiting of the electoral districts, observance of the gender equality, vote in the Diaspora, Transnistrian region and other administrative and territorial units.     

Today morning, the members of the joint delegation had a meeting with Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu, subsequently with representatives of the Liberal Party (PL), Party of Communists (PCRM) and Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM). The opposition MPs said they had not got involved in the creation of electoral districts, although they were invited to be members of the working commission set up for delimiting the districts. Attending the meeting were the lawmakers Roman Botan, Ion Casian, Ion Apostol, Oleg Reidman, Elena Bodnarenco, Maria Postoico and Iurie Tap.     

“We want the electors be able to vote not only for the favourite party, but also for the candidate due to represent them in parliament. I regret that the other opposition parliamentary parties did not want to get involved in activities on the setting up of electoral districts,” MP Vlad Batrincea said. The lawmakers from the parliamentary faction of the Party of Socialists (PSRM), Vlad Batrincea, Vasile Bolea and Vladimir Turcan participated in the meeting with the joint delegation of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR.

“We are sorry about the low interest of the parliament’s political parties, which refused to get involved in the working out of the procedural aspect of the legislation’s enforcement,” the leader of the faction of the Democratic Party (PDM), Marian Lupu, said. According to Lupu, equal conditions for Moldovan citizens’ participation in the polls are created through the introduction of the mixed electoral system.  

At the same time, MP Eugen Carpov said that Moldova was interested in the implementation of the Venice Commission’s recommendations, in order to carry out, without difficulty, the new legislative provisions.

Lawmakers Marian Lupu, Sergiu Sirbu, Violeta Ivanov on behalf of PDM and Eugen Carpov, Mihaela Spataru and Aliona Gota on behalf of the European People’s Party of Moldova (PPEM) participated in the meeting of representatives of the PDM parliamentary faction and PPEM parliamentary group.  

At the visit, the joint delegation will discuss with representatives of the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry, Central Electoral Commission, members of the national commission for the creation of electoral districts, extra-parliamentary parties and civil society.