A number of extraparliamentary parties of Moldova called on the Council of Europe to recommend the Moldovan authorities to reduce the election threshold to 4%, as before the recent amendments passed to the Election Code. The chairman of the Socialist People’s Party Victor Stepaniuc has told IPN that the letter remains open and can be signed by other political organizations.

“We hope that more political parties will join us,” said Victor Stepaniuc. The Party “Moldova’s Patriots” led by Mihail Garbuz, the Party of Regions headed by Mihail Formuzal, and the Social-Democratic Party led by Victor Shelin have subscribed to the call until now. Victor Stepaniuc is to have discussions on the issue with the chairman of the Party of Socialists Igor Dodon and the head of the Party “Renaissance – Vozrojdenie” Vadim Mishin.

According to Victor Stepaniuc, if the Council of Europe does not react or if the European officials’ recommendation is not heard, the extraparliamentary parties should think about the creation of an electoral bloc for the next elections. Regardless of its political views, this bloc must make effort to enter Parliament. In about 40% of the European countries, the election threshold is 3-4%.

Victor Stepaniuc counts on nine of ten chances that Moldova will have early parliamentary elections given that the Communists do everything possible for this to happen.

The law that increases the election threshold for parties from 4% to 6% was passed in Parliament on May 3 and published in the Official Gazette on May 10. The threshold for blocs consisting of two parties is 9%, up from 7%, while for blocs formed of three and more parties is 11%, up from 9%.