Moldovan parliament adopts new Electoral Code

Chisinau, 1 December /MOLDPRES/ - The parliament adopted the new Electoral Code of Moldova, in the second reading, today.   

The head of the parliament’s juridical commission for appointments and immunities, Olesea Stamate, stressed that, following the approval in the first reading, the draft had been subjected to more rounds of public  consultations. ‘’A huge work has been carried out by the colleagues of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), colleagues of the parliament and all those who worked for the improvement of the draft Electoral Code in the last five months,’’ Olesea Stamate said.     

Under the document, in emergency situations, such as pandemic, emergency state, in certain electoral constituencies, the elections will be held during two days (on Saturday and Sunday), through derogation of the general rule. This is to be established by CEC decision not later than by 25 days ahead of the election day. At the same time, to facilitate the voters’ access to the electoral process, the citizens will be given possibility to vote both based on the identity card or the temporary identity card, as well as based in the passport, no matter the type of the ballot.       

The document also sees clear-cut principles as to the coverage of the elections by mass media. The mass media institutions will be obliged to observe the principles of fairness, balance and impartiality, in the context of publicizing the electoral campaigns. Otherwise, they run the risk of being gradually sanctioned by the Audiovisual Council.    

The new Electoral Code of Moldova was passed with the votes of 55 MPs.

Photo: Parliament