The Moldovans holding Soviet-type passports, the model of 1974, will be able to take part in the elections. A bill to this effect, put forward by the Communist Party, was passed in two readings on May 3, IPN reports.

This bill was submitted after a bill banning voting with Soviet-type passports was adopted at the end of April, at the suggestion of the Liberal Party.

One of the new bill’s authors, Communist MP Artur Reshetnikov said that any restriction imposed on the right to vote must be justified and objective, while the persons who are eligible to vote must enjoy full freedom to choose between the candidates.

Liberal MP Ana Gutu said the Soviet-type passports are civilian documents of a state that no longer exist and Moldova is the only country of the former Soviet Union that keeps them.

In Moldova there are about 270,000 citizens holding Soviet-type passports.