Political analyst Igor Munteanu, the head of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul”, Friday presented his study “Political Parties in Moldova: laws, practices, reforms”. “We often ask ourselves what these years of transition brought us and realize that the political parties had a great effect on the changes that took place in Moldova. They are like a mirror of the developments witnessed by Moldova,” the author said at the launch. The study analyzes the transition of the political system in Moldova through the normative and legislative framework on political parties and elites. It focuses on the development of the political system after the fall of the USSR until present and the legislative framework, especially the shortcomings in the law on political parties. Another chapter is devoted to the elections. The study finds that the legislation on political parties adopted in 2007 did not achieve its initial goal of ensuring the transparency, efficiency and quality of citizen representation. It only ensured an apparent and superficial aligning to the European standards in the field. Igor Munteanu mentions a number of priorities and issues that that Moldovan authorities should deal with immediately after the validation of this year’s legislative elections, continuing implementing important reforms that have an impact on the democratic development. “It is one of the most successful products,” said sociologist Dan Dungaciu, presidential adviser on European integration matters. “Reading this study, I ascertained that the configuration of the political parties is not directly linked with the European integration. The political parties realized they are part of the European integration project much later and stated to transform themselves, which is not an easy process.” The participants in the launch spoke about the usefulness of the public consultations on the regulation of the political parties, the relationship between the political parties and the legal system and the institutional ‘gaps’ felt by the leaders and citizens when assessing the political parties. The study “Political Parties in Moldova: laws, practices, reforms” forms part of a series of publications printed with the support of the EU as part of a joint project of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) and the Delegation of the European Commission.