The refusal by the Central Election Commission (CEC) to register the initiative group for organizing a legislative referendum on the annulment of the mixed-member electoral system was expected, Stefan Gligor, chairman of the initiative group’s Executive Bureau, stated in the program “Politics” on TV8 channel, IPN reports.
Stefan Gligor noted the initiative of the group was rejected groundlessly and illegally, by violating the Constitution and the Election Code. The access of the people who came to attend and who protested in front of the institution to the meeting of the CEC was limited. “To reduce the seats at the CEC meeting, for the first time the whole staff of the institution was invited to attend the meeting so that the people who came to the so-called public meeting of the CEC had limited access to the hall,” stated Stefan Gligor.
Vladislav Kulminski, executive director of the Institute for Strategic Initiatives, said the power does not like the processes that cannot be controlled. The supervision of the process of collecting signatures by the initiative group would have been very difficult, if not impossible. If the CEC had given its consent, the members of the initiative group, while collecting signatures, would have explained to the people what the mixed electoral system means and that the current government aims to keep power.
Vitalii Andrievschi, director of the Institute for Efficient Policy, stated it is normal for the initiative group to look for justice now in the national courts and then in the European courts. Calling on the people to mount protests and demand that the power should make concessions is another solution. “This is a normal democratic way,” he stated.
On March 12, the CEC rejected the application to register the initiative group for organizing a national legislative referendum. The institution’s press release says they established that the initiative didn’t meet the provisions of the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters adopted by the Venice Commission. This stipulates that the fundamental elements of the electoral law, especially the electoral system, composition of electoral commissions and constitution of electoral districts, should not be amended at least one year before the elections.
