The mandate of the current Parliament expires on December 28, 2014, exactly four years of the constitution sitting held after the November 28, 2010 legislative elections. Under the Electoral Code, the new composition of the legislature must be elected within there months of the expiration of the mandate of the previous legislative body, which is by the end of March 2015. It was repeatedly said that the elections will take place by the end of this year as an election campaign during the winter holidays is not welcome. A sum of 52 million lei was earmarked for organizing the next parliamentary elections, IPN reports.
The elections date is set by Parliament within at least 60 days before the elections. The candidates for the seat of MP can be persons eligible to vote who turned 18, including on the elections day, have Moldovan nationality and the domicile in Moldova.
The number of candidates included in the lists of parties and electoral blocs, when they are registered by the Central Election Commission, cannot be lower than 51 and higher than 101, which is the number of members of Parliament, plus two substitute candidates. The independent candidates are registered after they present lists with the signatures of at least 2,000 and at most 2,500 supporters with the right to vote.
The lowest ceiling for entering Parliament for a party is 6% of the vote, for an electoral bloc consisting of two parties - 9%, for an electoral bloc consisting of three and more parties – 11%, while for an independent candidate – 2%. The Central Election Commission invalidates the elections if the voter turnout is lower than 1/3 of the people written in the electoral rolls. If the Constitutional Court establishes that violations were committed in the elections and/or in the vote counting process, which affected the election outcome and the distribution of seats, the elections are nullified.
When the elections are invalidated or nullified, the Central Election Commission organizes new elections within two weeks. The rerun elections are considered valid regardless of the voter turnout. If they are again invalidated or nullified, the Central Election Commission sets the date of new elections that take place in at least 60 days. In case of early elections, if Parliament is not elected as a result of rerun elections, the President of Moldova arranges new elections.
