The provision according to which the substitute members of the outlawed party cannot run in elections drying the next three years can be considered disproportionate, the executive director of the Legal Resources Center Ilie Chirtoacă stated in a public debate hosted by IPN. According to the jurist, the legislation should offer some of the members of the outlawed party the possibility of dissociating themselves from the illegal actions of the party and of competing in elections as independents.

The legislative initiative put forward by PAS MP Olesea Stamate provides that the Electoral Code will be amended to ban persons who were members of the outlawed party when the Constitutional Court passed its decision by which the party was declared unconstitutional, members of the party‘s executive body and persons who held elective posts or were substitute candidates on the party’s list at that moment cannot run in elections during three years of the moment the decision is passed.

The executive director of the Legal Resources Center considers the restriction in the case of substitute candidates is too harsh and should be reviewed. The decisions in parties in Moldova are taken in a participatory way. Several persons take decision in most of the cases and the party follows them. The substitute candidates most probably don’t know details about the way in which the party is funded. The possibility of associating or dissecting oneself from a party should exist.

According to Ilie Chirtoacă, in the case of the Shor Party that was outlawed by the Constitutional Court, the substitute members of the party can run as independents. Moreover, it is not recommended amending the Electoral Code within less than a year before the local general elections.

“One of the nine commitments undertaken by the Republic of Moldova referred to the amendment of the Electoral Cede and the authorities received a very good grade from the European Commission for the implementation of this. However, immediately after this measure was fulfilled, amendments were proposed to the Electoral Code. This is surely problematic.”

Ilie Chirtoacă also said that the Constitutional Court’s decision to outlaw the Shor Party was decided as a result of a series of penalties imposed on the party. For violating Moldova’s legislation, the Shor Party was penalized by being stripped of state budget funds and by banning its candidates from running in different types of elections.

“The illegal funding for the party consisted not of money from the diaspora, but of money from the Russian Federation brought by individuals who worked for firms associated with the party’s leader by regular flights. This is what the prosecution body ascertained and this is what is stipulated in the Court’s decision.”

The public debate “Parties between rights, responsibilities and unconstitutionality” was the 286th installment of the series “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that are staged by IPN News Agency with assistance from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.