The parliamentary group of the Party of Socialists voted against the draft decision to set the presidential elections for October 30 because the procedure was violated. During the April 1 sitting of the Parliament, the Socialists’ leader Igor Dodon told the press that the decision was formulated overnight and was consulted with no one, IPN reports.

“The decision was drafted overnight and the development partners weren’t consulted. We think this is a violation of the procedure. We consider the electoral legislation should have been first elaborated and consulted with the Venice Commission, and adopted. The date of the presidential elections should have been set afterward and these elections should take place simultaneously with the legislative elections,” stated the politician.

Igor Dodon added that the decision to set the date of the presidential elections looked strange to the Socialists. “We found out that this draft decision was registered not immediately. They hurried to set the date. This is probably related to the Central Election Commission’s decision to annul the collected signatures in favor of holding a constitutional referendum,” he said.

Parliament on April 1 decided that the presidential elections in Moldova will take place on October 30. The relevant decision takes effect on July 30. The electoral period will begin after this date.