Five political parties – PCRM, PLDM, PAS, PPPDA and PPPN – plead for keeping the party-list proportional representation system and ask to immediately withdraw the bill to replace the electoral system from Parliament. The leaders of the five parties signed a joint statement saying the replacement of the system will have serious consequences for representative democracy in Moldova. They demand that the next parliamentary elections should be held according to the current system, IPN reports.

“The intention to modify the electoral system by introducing uninominal voting is an evident attempt to liquidate the last elements of representative democracy in our country. By this initiative, they aim to only create preconditions for the main ruling party, the PDM, to fraudulently and by manipulation remain in power after the 2018 parliamentary elections. The apparently ‘democratic’, but actually abusive modification of the electoral legislation by a government with serious legitimacy problems, which is challenged by the largest part of the Moldovan citizens who plead for the alternation in power of the opposition political forces, can be described as a direct attempt to hide the usurpation of power in the state,” says the joint statement.

The signatories make a call to the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, including those who are abroad, the Venice Commission, the development partners and representatives of the diplomatic corps working in Chisinau. As a result of an analysis of the uninominal voting system, these established that this system will lead to the creation of conditions of electoral inequity in which the future Parliament can be elected by 10-20% of the voters, while the largest part of the people risk not being represented in the legislative body. The law enforcement agencies could use blackmail to discourage candidates of opposition parties from running in elections.

Also on April 12, the Party of Socialists reiterated its position that it is against the Democratic Party’s initiative to introduce the uninominal voting system. It considers this initiative is an attempt to avoid an imminent failure in the future legislative elections. The Socialists said they will countersign no statements signed by other parties that discredited themselves by involvement in the destruction of the country, during eight years. The party continues to plead for early parliamentary elections.