ODIHR and the Venice Commission welcome measures against hate speech and discrimination in electoral campaigns, which might be necessary and have been welcomed by the interlocutors in Moldova. However, care should be taken in the interpretation of these concepts, as a broad interpretation risks interfering with the candidates’ freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 32 of the Constitution of Moldova, Article 10 of the ECHR, as well as Article 19 2 of ICCPR and Paragraph 9.1 of 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document Document. The Electoral Code does not define the concepts of “hate speech” and “incitement to discrimination”, nor does the explanatory note to the draft Law do so. According to information received during online meetings with stakeholders in Moldova, a law on hate speech currently pending in Parliament is yet to be adopted. According to the case law of the ECtHR, the threshold for sanctioning political statements in the context of an election campaign is a high one, and will typically be reserved to statements that incite ethnic, racial, sexual, or religious hatred, or statements that incite violence or threats to the democratic order. The interpretation and application of the prohibition of “hate speech” and “discrimination” in the Electoral Code and the Contravention Code in the context of electoral campaign should therefore respect the candidates’ freedom of expression as guaranteed by the ECHR and the Constitution of Moldova. During an election campaign, candidates could often make negative statements on the political ideas, programmes or personal virtues of competing candidates without entering into the narrow category of statements that qualify as hate speech falling outside the remit of freedom of expression as provided by Article 10 of the ECHR. The Venice Commission and ODIHR therefore recommend considering re-wording these prohibitions more precisely in line with international human rights law: i.e., prohibit any advocacy of hatred, based on national, racial, sexual, religious or other characteristics, that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence (emphasis added). The same consideration applies to the suggested new Article 52.5 of the Contravention Code, as revised by the draft Law (see also below). The Electoral Code could also make an explicit reference to the definition of hate speech contained in Article 1 of the Code on Audiovisual Media Services.