ELECTORAL CHANGES GIVE ADVANTAGES TO RULING PARTY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHISINAU 000009

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TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM MD
SUBJECT: ELECTORAL CHANGES GIVE ADVANTAGES TO RULING PARTY

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1. (SBU) Summary: Changes to the electoral system that recently
passed in Parliament will limit the playing field and build into the
electoral code terms that give further advantages to the established
majority Communist Party (PCRM). A new law on Political Parties
adopted in the second reading on December 21, will provide money
from the state budget to finance political parties based upon the
number of seats they win in the 2009 elections. Changes to the
Electoral Code that Parliament adopted in the first reading on
December 27 will eliminate electoral blocs and prevent those with
dual citizenship from running as candidates. A second bill would
raise the party threshold floor in parliamentary elections from the
current 4 percent to 6 percent. End Summary

Law on Political Parties Provides Public Financing
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2. (U) On December 21 the parliament adopted in the second and final
reading a Law of Political Parties, which will come into force in
July 2009, i.e., after the next parliamentary elections. Article 32
of this law stipulates that political parties will be financed from
the public budget, allocating 0.2% of the budget(about 28 million
lei, or USD 2.5 million dollars) to finance parties that won seats
in parliament or gained at least 50 local council mandates (raion
level),to be apportioned in accordance with the number of seats
they won. One restrictive measure introduced is that political
parties will not be allowed to receive financing from abroad, which
includes even Moldovan citizens living overseas.


3. (U) Note: Though 15 parties won local council seats in the June
2007 elections, only four parties won more than 50 seats and would
thus have been eligible to receive funding under this provision of
the law: The Communist Party (PCRM),Urechean's Our Moldova
Alliance (AMN),Iurie Rosca's Christian Democratic Party (PPCD),and
Diacov's Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM). Though 23 parties or
blocs competed in the March 2005 parliamentary elections, only three
won seats in parliament and would have become eligible for funding
under this law: PCRM, PPCD, and the Democratic Moldova Electoral
Bloc. End note.


4. (U) Fifty-six deputies from the PCRM and from Iurie Rosca's PPCD
supported the bill. Several opposition parties, including
Urechean's AMN, proposed that financing to the parties begin in
January 2009, in time for the upcoming elections. Opposition
parties were very critical of the law, and deputies from Diacov's
Democratic Party walked out in protest.


5. (U) This law came to parliament for its first reading in December
2006, and then went to the Council of Europe for commentary. During
the intervening year, the need to adopt a law on political parties
remained an outstanding item on Moldova's European roadmap. With
the passage of this law, Moldova has now adopted 17 of the 18 laws
recommended by the Council of Europe.

Changes to Electoral Code would Eliminate Blocs
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6. (U) On December 27 the parliament adopted in the first reading
two bills with amendments to the electoral code. These will still
have to go through a second reading before they would become law.
The first bill (draft law 4350) would eliminate electoral blocs from
participating in elections. (Note: In the 2005 parliamentary
elections the parties of Urechean, Diacov, Bragis and Serebrian won
parliamentary seats by running together in the Democratic Moldova
Electoral Bloc. Without electoral blocs some of these parties would
not be able to make it into parliament. End Note.)


7. (U) Another provision of this law would not permit persons with
dual citizenship to run for office. (Note: In a December 27
meeting Speaker Lupu told the Ambassador that the EU had complained
to President Voronin in Brussels about aspects of the dual
citizenship rules. Lupu added that the law likely would be
modified. End note.)

Seeking to Raise the Parliamentary Threshold
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8. (U) Another bill that also passed in the first reading on
December 27 would raise the parliamentary threshold from four
percent to six percent. Only the PCRM and PPCD supported this bill.
The Communist deputies argued that a higher threshold would allow
only strong parties to enter the parliament, while opposition
deputies were critical of the bill's intent to eliminate smaller
parties from representation. Moldova had increased the election
threshold in 2001 from four to six per cent, but reverted to four
percent in 2005 following the parliamentary election that year.
During the debate, some mention was made of the possibility of a
five percent threshold. As the bill has yet to go to second

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reading, the outcome is not yet known and five percent may the final
compromise. (Note: The Ambassador told Speaker Lupu in his
December 27 meeting that a five-percent threshold was closer to the
European norm. End note.)

Comment: Using the Law to Limit the Playing Field
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9. (SBU) Taken together these bills will strengthen the Communist
party at the expense of the opposition. The smaller parties would
likely find themselves without government funding, unable to compete
in blocs, and facing a higher parliamentary threshold. Some smaller
parties likely will conclude - correctly - that their only chance to
win parliamentary seats will be to merge and form new larger
parties. Unfortunately, the egos of many of Moldova's politicians
may well preclude the compromise necessary to create viable mergers.
The parties of Bragis and Musuc took a step forward recently when
the two parties merged. However, a third party which was to join up
declined at the last minute to do so. With the 2009 parliamentary
elections looming, we expect to see additional party shifts in the
coming months. End comment.

KIRBY