CEC president against financing of electoral opponents from foreign sources

The president of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Eugeniu Stirbu considers that the stipulation allowing the electoral opponents to use foreign financial resources during campaigns, in the amount of at most 10% of the expenses approved by the CEC, should be removed from the bill with amendments to the Election Code. The present legislation bans attracting money from abroad for electoral campaigns. The amendment bill was discussed Thursday at a roundtable meeting organized by the Association for Participative Democracy ADEPT, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Election Code will be amended on the recommendation of the OSCE, the Venice Commission and other European institutions. The bill was drafted by a special parliamentary commission with the help of the CEC, ADEPT and foreign experts. “The opinions of all the players involved in the electoral process are important – the politicians, the state institutions and the people. The bill proposes reducing the electoral thresholds for political parties from 5% to 4%, introducing an electoral threshold of 1% for independents and allowing electoral blocs for which the threshold will be 6%,” said the executive director of ADEPT, Igor Botan. At the suggestion of the CEC, there would be instituted the electronic register of voters and created a continuous training center for electoral officials, said the Commission's secretary Iurie Ciocan. “We hope a consensus will be reached as regards the procedure for submitting and examining challenges,” Ciocan added. The parliamentary commission consists of representatives of all the political parties, but the Communist MPs refused to take part in the formulation of the bill, said the commission's chairman Valeriu Nimerenko. The next legislative elections can be organized in accordance with the amended Election Code if they take place at least six months after its adoption.