The public consultations on the amendment of the electoral legislation held by the Parliament’s legal commission for appointments and immunities on July 14 were fake. In a public debate titled “Amendments to the Election Code: advantages and risks to democracy” that was staged by IPN News Agency, PAS MP Sergiu Litvinenco said the amendments to the Election Code will apparently solve particular problems, but the problems identified in the presidential elections of 2016 will actually be witnessed in 2020 too.

“The legal commission, besides that proposal concerning the voting periods, rejected all the proposals formulated by civil society without providing any argument, writing only “they are not accepted”. There are five members of the legal commission, four Socialist MPs and Eugeniu Nikiforchuk, who is also a Socialist, who simply raise the hand and reject everything,” stated Sergiu Litvinenco.

He noted the civil society organizations submitted 129 pages with amendments to the electoral legislation. In the meeting of the Parliament’s legal commission for appointments and immunities, the amendments were rejected without providing arguments.

“There is absolutely no argument. They are not accepted.  Five votes and they went on. If you ask for the people’s opinion and the people work and present their opinion to you, you should try and perceive the essence of this opinion that comes from civil society, from persons who have a richer experience in electoral legislation than I and Mister Grigore Novac (another participant in the debate – e.n.) have,” stated the PAS MP.

He also said that changes are proposed to be adopted to the electoral legislation not long before the presidential elections, but this runs counter to the standards of the Venice Commission.

The debate “Amendments to the Election Code: advantages and risks to democracy” was the 144th installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.