The president of the Constitutional Court Alexandru Tanase underlined the necessity of improving the electoral legislation and of adopting a new Election Code that would contain separate provisions for each type of elections. This and other issues were discussed in a conference entitled “Presidential elections in the Republic of Moldova 2016: analysis, conclusions, recommendations and steps to be followed”, which was staged by the Central Election Commission and the Council of Europe, IPN reports.

Alexandru Tanase said a number of requests were made to Parliament to adopt different regulations for the challenge examination procedures when two rounds of elections are held, including for challenges submitted on the election day.

The Constitutional Court asked to introduce additional criteria for determining the number of polling places and ballots needed abroad and other types of advantages for the voters from the diaspora, such as two days of voting or electronic voting.

Parliament was also requested to add clear regulations to the Penal Code to punish voter corruption in the presidential elections and to introduce mechanisms for promptly and immediately punishing any attempt to involve religious denominations in the election campaign.

“The Republic of Moldova is a secular state and the involvement of religious denominations in campaigns cannot be accepted. Penalties are needed like the suspension of religious organizations that become politically involved,” stated Alexandru Tanase.

The Court asked to amend the legislation on the liability of broadcasters during election campaigns and to institute efficient punishment instruments, such as the suspension of the right to broadcast throughout the election campaign for the media outlets that are not impartial during the campaign.

Parliament has three months to deal with the requests of the Constitutional Court.