The Constitutional Court on May 27 ruled that the law providing for the withdrawal of the Soviet-type passports from circulation by September 1 is constitutional, IPN reports.

The Court was asked to pronounce by a group of Communist MPs. “The holders of Soviet-type passports, by absurdity, can no longer take part in elections even if they weren’t deprived of their civil rights and are able to cast their ballots,” said one of the authors of the challenge Igor Vremea. The Communist lawmakers assert it is impossible to issue 180,000 identity cards by November 30, when the parliamentary elections are likely to take place.

According to the information broadcast by the ICT Ministry, when the plan of action for replacing the Soviet-type passports with identity cards was approved last October, there were 195,066 people holding Soviet-type passports in Moldova. By May 22 this year, the figure fell to 120,958.

The identity card instead of the Soviet-type passport is issued free of charge, including to Transnistrians.