The member organizations of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (CALC) made an appeal to the MPs, asking that these name, within the legal timeframe, the new members of the Central Election Commission (CEC) according to such criteria as professionalism, integrity and meritocracy and not based on political loyalty. Also, the process of appointing the new members of CEC, in which the equal representation of women and men will be ensured, should be public, IPN reports, quoting a press release of the Coalition.
CALC made such a request following the expiry of the duties of the CEC members on June 16, 2021, which were extended for 90 days, and given the suspicions of political influence on CEC, as the Coalition noted in its statement on the July 11, 2021 elections.
According to CALC, the mechanism for constituting CEC is one of the key elements of the legal electoral system and should be reviewed as a result of broad public consultations so as to strengthen the institution’s independence and resilience in relation to the political factors and to ensure the permanent character of the mandate of CEC member.
The Coalition asks Parliament to modify the electoral and related legislation in accordance with the recommendations of the Constitutional Court, the national and international electoral observation missions, according to the international electoral standards of the OSCE, the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe etc. The legislation should stipulate punishment for the abusive use of the administrative resource or illegal organized transportation of voters on the election day, etc.
The Election Code provides the Central Election Commission consists of nine members. One member is nominated by the President of the Republic of Moldova, while the other eight members by Parliament, by observing the proportional representation of the majority and the opposition.
