The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections calls on Parliament to adopt the Law on the Financing of Political Parties and Election Campaigns modified based on the bill drafted under the aegis of the Central Election Commission (CEC). In a news conference at IPN, representatives of the Coalition said the bill covers the entire electoral process and ensures transparency in the process of financing parties and campaigns.
Secretary of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections Nicolae Pnafil said that two relevant bills were submitted to Parliament, one by ex-Democratic MP Vlad Plahotniuc and another one by the Government, this last one being drafted under the aegis of the CEC. The bills have been put forward over one year ago and haven’t been yet included in the agenda of the Parliament’s sittings.
Nicolae Panfil considers that a consensus cannot be found to pass these legislative changes. “The bill formulated under the aegis of the CEC was discussed with national and foreign experts. We demand that Parliament should adopt the amendments based on it,” he stated.
Coalition member Alexei Buzu noted that even if the amendments are passed, it’s not known when the CEC will comply with them. Therefore, the legislative body must hasten the adoption process. “We are concerned that Parliament may remove very important provisions in order to manage to adopt the changes and the law will thus be superficial in character,” he said.
He also said that there are serious deficiencies in the current legislation on party financing. According to the information made public earlier, some of the parties have donors with lower incomes than the made donation.
The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections says the success of the law that is to be adopted will be measured by its provisions, as those concerning the diminution of the cap on donations to parties and the creation of institutions that would monitor the implementation of the law. Among other important aspects are the financing of parties with money from the state budget and the inclusion of women and young people in the party lists. These provisions may not be passed as they can have a negative effect in this year’s election campaign.
The representatives of the Coalition said that Parliament also delays adopting the bill on women’s and young people’s electoral representation quotas. This is reason to believe that the parties do not want more young people and women on their lists of candidates for elections.
