The parliament in Moldova has voted to scrap the mixed voting system it used during the February parliamentary election. Instead, the Parliament has adopted the proportional voting system.
Why the change?
The mixed voting system drew criticism since its adoption in 2017. It was adopted on the bidding of the ruling party at the time, the Democratic Party. Opposition groups protested against its adoption and accused the ruling party of wanting to skew votes in its favour. The Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe on constitutional matters, also failed to endorse the change at the time.
Following the February 2019 parliamentary election, the ACUM (made up of the Action and Solidarity Party, PAS, and the Dignity and Truth Platform, PPDA) and Socialist party now leads the government. Fifty-seven of the deputies from the two blocs supported the change.
According to the President of Moldova, Igor Dodon, the law needed to be changed due to recommendations from development partners. He said: “The need to cancel the mixed electoral system arose in the context of the recommendations of the Venice Commission and the development partners of the Republic of Moldova.”
The New Electoral System
Besides restoring the proportional voting system, a number of other reforms were made, these include:
- Diaspora Voting: Voting procedures in the diaspora will be extended to two days to allow more citizens to vote.
- Reduction of the electoral threshold for individual parties from 6% to 5%; for a coalition of parties, from 8% to 7%.
- Election campaign: Campaigning on the day before election day is now prohibited.
Emerging Europe reported that the International Election Observation Mission of the International Republican Institute (IRI) welcomed the changes and pledged to support the government’s efforts in electoral reforms.
