The Parliament of Moldova Prohibited Members of the Pro-Russian Party “Șor” From Participating in Elections
On October 4, Moldovan parliamentarians approved amendments to the Election Code in the first reading that restrict the participation of representatives of the unconstitutional "Șor" party in elections. The amendments were supported by 57 legislators from the ruling "Action and Solidarity" (PAS) party.
Newsmaker.md reported this.
The changes to the Election Code stipulate that individuals meeting at least one of the following criteria lose their right to be elected for three years:
- Are suspects or accused of committing crimes that led to the recognition of a political party as unconstitutional.
- Were disqualified from previous elections due to opaque campaign financing, if this was one of the reasons for declaring the political party unconstitutional.
- Were involved in actions resulting in international sanctions against them, if international sanctions were one of the reasons for declaring the political party unconstitutional.
However, the election ban does not apply to individuals who, while falling under one of the aforementioned points, can prove that they attempted to persuade the party to discontinue actions leading to its unconstitutional status or publicly renounced such actions.
Within three days, the General Police Inspectorate, the National Anticorruption Center, and the Information and Security Service are required to provide all necessary data to the Central Election Commission. Afterward, the Central Election Commission has one day to compile a list of individuals falling under the provisions of the new amendments.
It's worth noting that the parliament previously adopted an amendment to the Election Code, which stated that all candidates elected from unconstitutional parties would be disqualified from running for five years. However, representatives of "Shor" contested this amendment in court.
On October, 3, the Constitutional Court of Moldova allowed former members of the pro-Russian "Șor" party, which had been declared unconstitutional by the same court in June of this year, to participate in the local elections scheduled for November. The court found that the contested ban was not based on objective criteria, was too general, and did not consider individual circumstances.