Unconstitutional Party Members Have No Right to Stand for Elections

Members of political parties recognized unconstitutional will lose their right to be elected for up to five years from the date of the Constitutional Court’s decision. In the second reading the Parliament approved the bill aimed at the implementation the Constitutional Court’s decision to dissolve the Șor party, infotag.md reports. According to the Electoral Code amendments, there is a new category of persons who cannot be elected: “members of the executive body of a party recognized unconstitutional or those who held elected posts from an unconstitutional party”. This provision came under criticism by civil society and opposition representatives as a violation of basic human rights. However, according to the head of the Legal Commission, Olesea Stamate, the Parliament has the exclusive right to change the electoral system, while the right to be elected is not absolute and can be restricted by law. The law on political parties is also being amended. “Attributes of political parties recognized unconstitutional cannot be used by other political parties, electoral blocs and other election contestants. The established fact of using such attributes is the ground for the State Services Agency to refuse a political party’s registration,” the new law stipulates. The amendments also add new articles on political corruption to the Criminal Code. Thus, passive political corruption will be punished by imprisonment for up to seven years with a fine of up to 300,000 lei, while active corruption will be punished by imprisonment for up to six years with a fine of up to 200,000 lei.