The new Election Code of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia contains provisions that go against the Constitution of Moldova, while a part of them give the region’s authorities exclusive rights to start election campaigns without the consent of the central electoral bodies, the Gagauz public organization Youth Center “Piligrim-Demo” has said, quoted by IPN.

The center’s executive director Mihail Sirkel told a news conference that an analysis of the bill revealed a number of deviations from the Constitution of Moldova. They refer to the possibility of accrediting foreign observers directly by the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia. Another aspect that runs counter to the constitutional provisions refers to the possibility of individually organizing and holing election campaigns, without the consent of the central authority.

However, the bill has a number of positive aspects as it consolidates the electoral legislation on the territory of Gagauzia, adjusts the region’s electoral provisions to the Election Code of Moldova, and removes technical shortcomings from the legislation.

“Piligrim-Demo” calls on the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia to suspend the promotion of the bill and to send it back to the authors so that they remove the identified drawbacks. The analysis says that a bill with amendments to the electoral legislation must be drafted with the participation of a large number of specialists and be consulted with the interested sides.