More than half of parties escape dissolution

Fifteen parties of the 28 registered in Moldova do not run the risk of being dissolve anymore and will be able to continue work, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting the modifications to the law on political parties approved by the Cabinet on February 3. The bill removes the stipulation that obliges the Ministry of Justice to ask the Chisinau Court of Appeals to dissolve the political organizations that did not take part in two consecutive campaigns for legislative elections or that polled fewer votes than the number of members needed to register a party in each of the elections. The Government decided to eliminate this stipulation, arguing it runs counter to the constitutional norms that guarantee the freedom of the parties and other sociopolitical organizations and define the political party as a voluntary association and the legal norms that say the parties must take part in organized elections in accordance with the law. The executive reached the conclusion that the legal norms come into conflict as the right provided by an article is transformed into an obligation by another article. In order to resolve the given conflict, the Cabinet decided to remove letter c paragraph 2 of article 22 of the law on political parties. The dissolution of a political party in such a way is a violation of the freedom of assembly and association guaranteed by article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Fifteen parties of the 28 registered with the Ministry of Justice could have been dissolved.