The Venice Commission’s appraisal is political-legal in character even if particular players from Chisinau are trying to impose another interpretation. We cannot speak about a legal generality apart from the political reality, deputy chairman of the Liberal Party Valeriu Munteanu said in the public debate “Broad consensus in Moldovan society: necessity and possibility”, which was the 74th installment of a series, orgnzied by IPN News Agency and Radio Moldova.
Valeriu Munteanu stated that after he studied the Venice Commission’s opinion on the electoral system change, he concluded that the change is wanted only by the Democratic Party, while the Party of Socialists “wants” this under pressure. “Now the Party of Socialists is trying to make a “prude” of oneself and to to find sufficient arguments to refuse to vote for the bill in the second reading because the keeping of the current electoral system is more advantageous to the Socialists than its replacement,” he stated.
According to the Liberal party’s deputy chairman, the proposal to replace the voting system in the first reading was also supported by the European People’s Party parliamentary group, which was constituted during the mandate of the current legislature. The Venice Commission said it is an absolutely Moldovan invention when parliamentary groups that do not represent the voters are formed.
“A broad “consensus” after the migration witnessed after the elections of 2014 with the involvement of more than half of Parliament can be now achieved only by the 19 Democratic MPs who were elected on the Democratic ticket as the rest joined these according to conjuncture. The formation of new groups and political cruising are something very negative and counterproductive for the consolidation of the rule of law,” stated Valeriu Munteanu.
He noted that compared with the period when the current party-list proportional representation system was voted, things are now more serious and unpleasant for Moldova because there was a coalition formed of four parties with 53 seats in Parliament in 2009 and there was balance and also a struggle inside the coalition that generated particular progress. Now, after the date of May 26, Moldova has been governed by one party – the Democratic Party – and there are no other parties in the coalition, while the European People’s Party of Moldova is nothing but a section of the PDM.
Valeriu Munteanu said the monitoring of Moldova by the Council of Europe is a condition that could accelerate the European integration process and even the process of obtaining the status of candidate for accession to the EU. At the same time, the ignoring of the Venice Commission’s recommendations concerning the electoral system change will lead to the exerting of pressure on Moldova and to a delay in disbursing the agreed financial assistance.
The public debate “Broad consensus in Moldovan society: necessity and possibility” is the 74th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are organized with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
