The Party for People, Nature and Animals (PONA) made a call to the President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu, asking her to initiate a bill to amend the Election Code so as to lower the election threshold for political parties from 5% to 1% at parliamentary elections.
“The benefits are multiple. First of all, the reduction in the election threshold will enable more parties to enter the future Parliament. More parties mean an increase in the number of those whose electoral options are reflected in Parliament. Half of those who are ready to vote don’t do it because they do not have a choice option,” PONA president Ion Dron stated in a news conference at IPN.
According to PONA, the parliamentary election threshold of 5% for political parties no longer fulfills the function of a balance between political stability in Parliament and a better representation of the people’s electoral wishes. Ion Dron noted that to the letter addressed to Maia Sandu, PONA attached the text that can serve as a bill undertaken by the President and the informative note. The members of the party are trying this way to come up with a proposal that would be good for the whole political class and also for the voters, beyond the political criteria.
Ion Dron said 5% is the highest election threshold recommended by the Venice Commission. “In Georgia, for example, as a result of a political consensus, at a dialogue table with foreign partners, both the power and the opposition agreed to lower the electoral threshold to 1%. At the end of 2020, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan reduced the electoral threshold for parties from 7% to 3%. In other words, the Republic of Moldova is now a sole state that remains under the dictatorship of this electoral threshold,” stated Ion Dron. He noted that the electoral threshold has two functions. On the one hand, it is designed to keep Parliament sufficiently aggregated so as so that a stable government could be formed. On the other hand, it is intended to affect less the freedom of expression of the people’s will. When there is no such a balance, the electoral threshold does not fulfill these functions.
Ion Dron noted the Republic of Moldova is in a vicious circle that can be broken by lowering the election threshold. A better participation of the citizens in the political life would be stimulated by the lowering of the threshold. “The coming of new parties, the renewal of the spectrum existing now in Parliament would help solve the current political crisis, at least in the medium term. The Parliament and the political class would be ultimately renewed and confidence in this institution would be restored,” stated the politician.
He called upon the extraparliamentary parties to enter a dialogue with the President in any form so as to initiate such a bill. “I’m not sure that Maia Sandu would accept such an initiative, but I’m sure that she will pay politically if she hesitates to take such a step. Our approach is ultimately in the interests of the extraparliamentary parties and is aimed at ensuring the political future of the President of the Republic of Moldova. Our political group does it for those who come behind: in politics they come to give not to take,” said the president of PONA.
