The participation rate in the referendum is calculated according to the number of citizens put on the electoral lists, not according to the number of voting-eligible citizens on the State Register of Voters. The Constitutional Court ruled on this aspect as early as 2010, when the referendum on amending the Constitution so as to directly elect the head of state was held. At that time, the Court stressed that one third of the citizens put on the lists must participate in the referendum for it to be validated. The explanations were provided by the executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy “ADEPT” Igor Boțan. For the October 20 referendum to be validated, about 940,000 people must vote in it.
In a news conference at IPN, Igor Botan said that 3.3 million citizens with the right to vote are included in the State Register of Voters, and 2.7 million citizens were included in the electoral lists. “There is a difference of almost half a million citizens because we have almost 300,000 voting-eligible citizens in the Transnistrian region, but they cannot be included in the voter rolls as the Moldovan authorities do not control this territory, respectively they do not open polling stations in the region,” noted the ADEPT director.
The eligible citizens from the Transnistrian region can also vote based on a Constitutional Court decision. Twenty years ago, the Court stressed that if the citizen of the Republic of Moldova who are eligible to vote is not included in the voter rolls at the polling station, the electoral authorities are obliged to include him/her in the supplementary lists for this to be able to vote. That is why the citizens of the Transnistrian region (about 300,000), if they come to the 30 polling stations established along the Nistru River on election day will be included in the supplementary electoral lists,” said Igor Boțan.
“And there are, according to data of the Central Election Commission, about 200,000 citizens of the Republic of Moldova who do not have a domicile. Respectively, if they do not have a domicile, they are not included in the electoral lists. So, the calculation of the participation rate starts from the approximate figure of 2.7 million voting-eligible citizens. Out of 2.7 million, a third is about 940,000 citizens who should participate in the referendum for it to be validated.”
As for Article 142 of the Constitution, which refers to four distinct topics – sovereignty, independence, neutrality, and unitary state – the expert said that, when these are put up for a referendum, the positive vote must come from half of the citizens put on the voter rolls. But this is not the case in the referendum of October 20, when it is enough for the majority of the participants in the plebiscite to vote “Yes”.
EU membership does not mean loss of sovereignty. Igor Boțan gave the example of the UK, which in 1975 organized a referendum on leaving the EU, but the Brits rejected the idea. “Did then the UK cede sovereignty or not? In 2016, the UK decided again to hold a referendum on leaving the EU. There was a referendum and they decided to leave. They left the EU. Did the fact that it had been in the EU for about 40 years affect its sovereignty, its independence? Not at all. I want to tell you that out of 27 EU member states, 24 have amended the constitutions, as in the case of the Republic of Moldova... As far as sovereignty and independence are concerned, there are articles in the constitutions of the EU countries saying that they are defended and it goes to a joint effort of these states to organize their economic and political cooperation in such a way that all those who are part of the EU are beneficiaries, without touching their interests related to sovereignty and independence. And if any state decides that the UK should secede, they are free to do so. It is true that now, two-thirds of the citizens of the United Kingdom regret the fact that the country left the EU,” stated the expert.
The statements were made at the press conference at which the platform alegeri.md, updated by ADEPT within the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, was presented. On the platform, citizens can find information about the presidential election, the constitutional referendum and voting abroad.
Note: IPN Agency offers the right of reply to persons who consider that they were affected by the news articles produced based on the statements of the organizers of this press conference, including by facilitating the organization of another press conference under similar conditions.
