Establishment, composition and terms of office of the members of the Central Electoral Commission

(1) The members of the Central Electoral Commission shall be appointed as follows:
a) one member is appointed by the President of the Republic of Moldova;
b) one member is appointed by the Supreme Council of Magistracy;
c) one member is appointed by Government, on the proposal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
d) four members are appointed by the Parliament as follows:
- two members proposed by the parliamentary majority;
- a member proposed by the parliamentary opposition. If there is no joint appointment from the opposition, the opposition faction with the largest number of MPs on the date the Parliament was established, shall appoint the Member of the Commission;
- one member proposed by civil society organisations, representative for the electoral field.

(2) The authorities referred to in paragraph (1) shall conduct the procedure for selecting candidates for the position of member of the Central Electoral Commission, on criteria of competence and professionalism, in accordance with their own rules and in compliance with the requirements of Article 22 (1). The administrative acts on the nomination of members by these authorities shall be sent to the Commission and be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Moldova within 10 days from their adoption or, where appropriate, issue.

(3) The Central Electoral Commission shall be considered duly established if at least 5 members are appointed.

(4) After being nominated in office, at the first meeting of the Commission in which he/she participates, but no later than 15 days after his/her nomination, the member of the Central Electoral Commission shall take the following oath: “I swear to observe the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Moldova, to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens, to fulfil with honour, sincerity and unbiasedly the duties assigned to me as per my position, and make no political statements during my term of office”.

(5) The term of office of the member of the Central Electoral Commission shall be 6 years. The term of offices shall begin on the date of entry into force of the administrative act of appointment and duties shall be performed from the date on which the oath is taken. Each member of the Commission may hold two consecutive mandates.

(6) If the term of office of the members of the Central Electoral Commission expires during the electoral period, the term of office shall be automatically extended until the end of that period.

(7) In the event of the early termination of the term of office of a member, the authority which appointed him/her shall appoint a new member of the Central Electoral Commission under the conditions laid down in this Code.

(8) During their term of office, the members of the Central Electoral Commission cannot make statements or take actions liable to impair the independence of their positions and cannot benefit from the positions they hold in order to obtain political, economic or other benefits.