Uninominal vote disadvantages women, opinion
- 18.04.2012 10:07
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- 3 minute(s)
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Diana Mocanu, of the Partnership for Development Center, believes that the uninominal voting system disadvantages the women as the political parties will field those who have more money and more prospects. She stated her opinion in the public debates centering on a legislative initiative aimed at reforming the election system by introducing the uninominal vote, Info-Prim Neo reports.
“Statistics show that in the states with such a voting system, the women are less involved in the government process,” said Diana Mocanu. She also referred to the proposal to divide Moldova into 101 electoral constituencies. “We will be in a situation when we will have too many constituencies. For example Latvia, which has the same territory as Moldova, has only one constituency. Italy has only 26 electoral constituencies even if there are over 500 MPs. If we have such a larger number of constituencies, we will break a record in Europe,” said Diana Mocanu.
Jurist Pavel Postica, of Promo-LEX Association, considers that it will be hard to form the constituencies and the process will imply large costs.
Leonid Litra, expert of IDIS “Viitorul”, said a fear related to this bill is that a large number of micro-projects concerning for instance the water pipes in a settlement will be submitted to Parliament. “I don’t say they will not be important, but they will not be within the legislature’s competence. This will make the sittings banal. On the other hand, the uninominal voting system will favor the inclusion of MPs from regions in the legislative process,” he said.
The head of Radio Free Europe Office in Chisinau Vasile Botnaru said that if this bill is adopted, the plenary sittings should take place not at 10am, but in the afternoon. “The lawmakers who will be from regions, should not be accommodated in Chisinau, but should live in their settlements. Thus, they will see the quality of roads and the situation in districts and will know when the people remain without electric power. It’s not necessary to spend money on the rent of apartments for them to relax in the capital city,” he stated.
The public debates on the reformation of the electoral system were organized by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in partnership with the International Republican Institute, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. Andrew Young, the representative of NDI, said that this reformation should be a decision taken in concert with civil society and the mass media, not a decision imposed on the population. The legislative initiative was put forward by First Deputy Speaker Vlad Plahotniuc.
