Home > 3.2 Proportional systems > MOLDOVA - Joint Opinion on the Draft Laws on Amending and Completing Certain Legislative Acts (Electoral System for the Election of the Parliament)
 
 
 
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Paragraph 32
 

While majority or plurality systems in single-member constituencies may improve and further strengthen the link between citizens and their representatives, this is not always the case. In the 2014 Joint Opinion, the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission warned that such systems in specific political contexts may instead weaken or distort the link between the citizens and their representatives, and thus fail to achieve the declared objective of the draft. This would be the case if there is a strong influence of (local) businesspeople or other non-electoral stakeholders on their communities within a single-member constituency. Experiences from the 2012 parliamentary elections in Ukraine demonstrate that “the new mixed electoral system has changed the dynamic of these elections in comparison with the 2007 parliamentary elections, as party-nominated and independent candidates are competing strongly at the local level. A number of independent candidates are linked to wealthy businesspeople, some of whom are also supporting political parties financially.