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As the Parliament failed to elect a President of the Republic of Moldova and the Constitutional Court ascertained the circumstances which justify the dissolution of the Parliament, the acting President of Moldova issued on September 28, 2010 the decree on dissolution of the 18^th Legislature and set early parliamentary elections for November 28, 2010. Parliament’s mandate extends until the legal meeting of the new legislative structure is convened. During this period the Constitution can not be amended and the organic laws cannot be adopted, amended or repealed.

The early elections will take place in compliance with the Electoral Code, amended and completed on June 18, 2010. The main amendments related to the organization and conduct of parliamentary elections provide:

• unification of timelines for early parliamentary elections, setting the term of at least 60 days for the election period;
• reviewed electoral threshold: 4% for parties, 7% for electoral blocs composed by 2 parties and/or social-political organizations, 9% for an electoral bloc composed of 3 or more parties and/or social-political organizations, 2% for an independent candidate;
• reviewing the redistribution of votes and seats remained from those contestants which have not passed the threshold: equal distribution, successively, by one to each electoral contestant (previously, the seats have been distributed proportionately, i.e. favoring the party with higher number of votes);
• removed interdiction of holding double (multiple) citizenship to run for elections in Parliament, for CEC members;
• allowing electoral blocs (of two or more political parties and social-political organizations);
• allowing running on lists regardless of party affiliation/non-affiliation;
• allowing all persons in detention (convicted) to vote;
• introducing mandatory suspension from office for some governmental officials (deputy prime ministers, deputy ministers, ex officio members);
• establishing the mandatory and normative nature of CEC decisions;
• partial revision of the way of establishing the electoral bodies;
• providing the possibility to establish additional polling stations abroad (within diplomatic missions or outside of them), distribution of the maximum number of ballots to these polling stations;
• publication of the contestants’ detailed financial information;
• electoral campaign coverage by media: providing some free minutes, excluding time limits for debates, CCA’ monitoring the coverage;
• permission to keep the day before Election Day and on Election Day the posters and information previously posted on Internet;
• students were given the opportunity to vote without residence or domicile visa in the area where they study;
• extending the rights of national and international observers;
• regulating the way of submitting and considering the appeals;
• setting out the grounds for canceling the registration (for the use of some undeclared or exceeding resources, non-suspension from office by those who have this obligation);
• introduced the criminal liability for actions of distorting the vote (double voting, voting without the right to do so);
• introduced some administrative sanctions for producing/dissemination of campaigning materials (no expressly established information);
• extended the deadline for changing the lists of candidates (up to 7 days before the Election Day) etc.

Parliamentary elections are considered valid and legal if the turnout is more than 1/3 of the number of people registered on the electoral lists and when there are no found violations that would influence the outcome of elections and assignment of seats.

The context of 2010 parliamentary elections

After the parliamentary elections of April 5, 2009 and the early elections of July 29, 2009, the Parliament had to elect the President of the Republic of Moldova, but in 2009 all 4 attempts to elect the head of state by Parliament have failed. In the ensuing period (December 2009 — July 2010) various attempts were undertaken to resolve the situation: • changes in laws and their interpretations; • requests to the Constitutional Court, demanding for interpretations and clarifications; • establishment of a Constitutional Commission to develop amendments to the Constitution; • developing a new text of the Constitution; • development and registration of draft laws amending the Constitution regarding the way of electing the head of state (directly or indirectly, successively lowering the minimum number of required votes); • involvement of international bodies for conflict mediation (Council of Europe, Venice Commission, EU).

The last solution reached by Moldovan Parliament was to organize a republican constitutional referendum on September 5, 2010 with the proposal to review the Article 78 of Moldovan Constitution and promote the idea of direct election of the president. The constitutional referendum of September 5, 2010 was declared invalid due to insufficient voter turnout: 818,476 voters out of those 2,662,052 included in voter lists.

Following the failed attempts to elect the President of Moldova in Parliament and after the official request submitted to the Constitutional Court by the acting President of the country on September 21, 2010, the Constitutional Court issued its Opinion on finding the circumstances justifying the dissolution of Parliament. Thus, the acting President of Moldova signed the Decree to dissolve the Parliament (since September 29, 2010) on September 28, 2010 and set early parliamentary elections for November 28, 2010.

Electoral Contestants

• Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova

• Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova

• Democratic Party of Moldova

• Liberal Party

See also

• Early Parliamentary Elections in Moldova on July 29, 2009

• Election of President of the Republic of Moldova from November 10 and December 7, 2009

• Republican Constitutional Referendum of September 5, 2010

Related Sites

• The Parliament of Republic of Moldova

• Central Electoral Comission