On October 30, 2016 the citizens of Moldova eligible to vote are expected to choose the Head of State. It is for the first time since the constitutional reform of 2000 that the President will be elected by direct vote, not in Parliament.
The Election Code stipulates that the President is elected by universal, equal, direct, secret and freely expressed vote for a four-year term. The elections are held in one national electoral constituency. The candidates for President must be Moldovan citizens with the right to vote aged older than 40, who lived or have lived permanently on Moldova’s territory for at least 10 years and know the official language.
Since the declaration of independence, the Republic of Moldova has had four Presidents, including the incumbent one, but elections were held for more times. The First President Mircea Snegur won the elections of December 8, 1991 with 98.17% of the ballot. In December 1996, Mircea Snegur and the then Head of Parliament Petru Lucinschi competed in the second round, with Lucinschi emerging victorious. After the constitutional reform of 2000, the leader of the Party of Communists Vladimir Voronin was chosen as Head of State in Parliament by the fourth attempt, on April 4, 2001. Four years later, the Communist leader was reelected as President and held office until 2009. After a long political crisis, following several election attempts and interim presidencies, Nicolae Timofti was elected as Head of State on March 16, 2012 by the votes of 62 MPs.
On October 30, 2016, the people will be able choose the Head of State themselves following the March 4, 216 judgment by the Constitutional Court by which the direct election of the President was restored. The election campaign starts 30 days before the election day. All the aspirants for the office of President must submit the subscription lists with at least 15,000 signatures collected by initiative groups in favor of the applicants to the Central Election Commission by September 29.
The elections will be validated if the voter turnout is minimum 1/3 of the voters included in electoral registers. If none of the candidates wins at least 50% of the vote, a second round of voting will be held and this will involve two candidates who won most of the votes in the first round.
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The IPN series “I want to know ABOUT ELECTIONS” is designed to explain notions, terms and practices related to the presidential election process
