The merging of the presidential election with the national constitutional referendum was necessary to ensure a higher turnout of voters, said PAS deputy chairwoman Olesea Stamate. Under the Electoral Code, the threshold for validating the referendum is 33%, and the Constitution will be amended if more than half of the electors who will have a voting option vote in favor of the new text of the Supreme Law. Olesea Stamate admitted that 17% of the voters can decide the fate of the referendum and called on the people to actively participate in this autumn’s election, IPN reports.
The MP rejected the accusations that the ruling party started campaigning for the referendum before the deadline set by the Electoral Code. According to Olesa Stamate, the “For the Referendum” campaign launched by the PAS is a campaign to inform and mobilize the citizens to the polls.
“From the perspective of public communication, this is a communication campaign, to inform the voter about the upcoming referendum. Although there is a lot of talk about the referendum, many citizens still do not know about the fact that a referendum will be held on October 20. From the perspective of public communication, this is a good exercise. It cannot be an election campaign as long as it is not told what we have to do in the referendum. If we correctly inform that a referendum will take place, and it is important that everyone participates in the referendum, it is not an election campaign. The banners say “for referendum”. They do not contain the answer to the referendum question, for or against the introduction of that text in the Constitution. I can state my subjective opinion, but for this the CEC must examine whether or not there is room for violation of the law,” Olesea Stamate stated in the talk show “Resumé” on RliveTV.
According to the Electoral Code, the participation of at least 1/3 of the people put on the voter rolls is required for the referendum to be validated. Also, the decision is considered adopted by national referendum if the majority of the citizens who participated in the referendum voted for it. Olesea Stamate admitted that at this autumn’s referendum the decision can be taken by the votes of at least 17% of the electors.
“The threshold of 50% plus 1 is set by the Constitution only for the four fundamental questions stipulated in the Constitution. Another, lower threshold can be set for topics that do not concern the neutrality, integrity, sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Moldova. Respectively, this is the threshold set by the legislator in the Electoral Code. From my point of view, it is not very much for 17% to decide the amendment of the Constitution. Precisely for this reason, it is necessary to combine the referendum with another type of election so as to mobilize more citizens to participate in the referendum. Historically, in the Republic of Moldova most of the referendums were invalidated due to low turnout as the citizens take a more active part in elections. Respectively, we hope that those who come to the election will also participate in the referendum,” said the deputy chairwoman of the Party of Action and Solidarity.
The national constitutional referendum will be held on October 20, simultaneously with the presidential election. The question at the referendum will be: “Are you for amending the Constitution to stipulate the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the European Union in it?”.
