The electoral constituencies will be formed by a special commission set up by the Government. This will include representatives of civil society, parliamentary and extra-parliamentary parties, national minorities, academic community and experts. The information about electoral constituencies will be published in the Official Gazette one year before the elections. Such a provision is contained in the draft law to replace the electoral system. The last debates on the proposal were held by the Parliament’s legal commission for appointments and immunities on July 19, IPN reports.

To ensure proper representation of the Moldovan voters abroad and on the left side of the Nistru in Parliament, the geographical division criterion will be added to the existing criteria for forming constituencies. The authors of the bill noted that the formation of electoral constituencies by an independent authority is one of the recommendations of the Venice Commission.

According to them, the solution requested by the experts of the Venice Commission for ensuring the transparent funding of candidates and their integrity is provided by the integrity certificate that is required on the registration of a candidate.

It is suggested decreasing the cap on donations to 50 average official salaries for private individuals and to 100 average official salaries for legal entities. Now the private individuals can donate up to 200 official average salaries, while the legal entities up to 400 salaries.

Among the amendments proposed for the second reading is also the keeping by parties of the current 40% gender representation quota for promoting women in politics. The uninominal constituencies will benefit from a state budget bonus of at least 10% that will increase with each woman candidate who will enter Parliament, according to a coefficient. The number of signatures needed to register a woman candidate could be halved.

The bill with all the formulated amendments was published on the Parliament’s website.