The Parliament’s legal commission on April 17 approved Democratic MP Vlad Plahotniuc’s bill that provides for the switchover from the party list-based system to the joint system in the parliamentary elections. Under the bill, a part of the MPs will be chosen based on party lists, while the other part in uninominal constituencies, IPN reports.

The ratio will be of 51 lawmakers elected at national level (according to party lists) to 50 lawmakers elected in uninominal constituencies.

If the bill is passed by Parliament, in the next legislative elections, besides the national electoral constituency that covers the whole territory of Moldova and the polling places set up abroad, there will be formed 50 uninominal constituencies. The seats will be distributed according to party lists in the same way as at present. As regards the uninominal constituencies, seats will be offered to the candidates who will win the largest number of votes. If none of the candidates has 50% plus one vote, a second round of voting will be held for the candidates who polled most of the votes.

The citizens who are abroad and those from the left side of the Nistru will vote only within the national constituency.

The authors said that such systems exist in many states with advanced democracies and that they enable the people to have greater access to decision making and will make the political parties more responsible.

Under the note to the bill drafted by Plahotniuc and another two Democratic MPs, from social viewpoint, the proposed changes offer every citizen greater access to decision making at legislative level, through the agency of the elected MP. At the same time, the responsibility of the parties, which remain the main political organizations who identify, prepare and promote staff for the political and administrative systems of Moldova, will increase.