Home > 1.2.1 Equal voting rights > MOLDOVA - Joint Opinión on the Law for Amending and Completing Certain Legislative Acts (Electoral System for the Election of the Parliament)
 
 
 
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Paragraph 33
 

The use of the plural form in the introduction to the list (“...representatives of…”), combined with broad and indefinite categories such as “local public authorities” and “civil society and academia from the area”, leaves wide discretion as to the size and the exact composition of the commission. The law provides the government with such discretion in the appointment of the independent commission that it may jeopardise the commission’s independence. In theory, there is nothing in Article 74(2) to prevent even a minority government from making appointments that provide it with majority representation in the commission, i.e. by appointing only party sympathisers from civil society and academia. Representatives of local public authorities might be in practice representatives of political parties, and here again no guarantee is given that this representation will be balanced. During the visit to Chişinău, a number of stakeholders alleged that most members of the commission, which was established in September 2017, were affiliated with the main governing party and informed the Venice Commission and ODIHR delegation that most opposition parties boycotted the work of the commission.