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Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections is deeply concerned about political situation in the country and demands the members of parliament not to use recent amendments to the electoral system as a trade-off within political negotiations. The recent change of electoral system, undertaken in a record short timeframe and without consultations with stakeholders concerned, is followed by a new initiative in the electoral field. The authors of the law, a group of communist MPs, submitted to the Permanent Bureau of the Parliament a draft law which seeks to abrogate the legislation on the mixed electoral system and to change the electoral threshold – from 4% as it is now to 7% for political parties; from 7% to 9% for the electoral blocks consisting of two political parties, and from 9% to 11% for the electoral blocks consisting of three and more political parties.

The subsequent adoption of the bill will severely limit the rights of voters and of electoral contestants. Thus, the change of the electoral threshold may eventually lead to the exclusion from the political life of many political parties for which citizens cast their votes. In this regard, the Venice Commission recommended in 2008 to lower threshold for political parties from 6% to 4% in order to not lose the votes in the redistribution process.

The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, notes with regret that the situation of instability in the Moldovan Parliament and the incapacity to form a stable majority, as well as promotion of narrow party interests of certain political actors, jeopardizes the national interests of the Republic of Moldova, destabilizes the socio – political life and diminishes the European integration perspectives. For these reasons, Civic Coalition demands political parties to identify constructive and sustainable solutions in order to settle the emerged political conflicts and to abstain from undermining institutions and democratic processes of the Republic of Moldova.

In this context, Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections repeatedly recommends to the Parliament to concentrate efforts in a constructive manner on the adoption of legislation on financing of political parties and of electoral campaigns as a measure for eradicating multiple problems which persist within electoral processes and in the general life of political parties. Alleviating these problems, by establishing a system transparency of political party finance, will enlarge the constituency base of parties and will contribute to the promotion of those parties which will be committed exclusively to the general interests of the citizens and of the country.

The Council of Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections

The Coalition’s call has been also undersigned by:

1. Arcadie Barbăroșie, Institute for Public Policy
2. Sorin Mereacre, East-Europe Foundation
3. Sergiu Ostaf, CReDO
4. Valeriu Prohnitchi, Expert-Group
5. Ana Ungurean, Institute for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms