(Interview offered to DECA-press Agency by Igor Botan, executive director of the Association for Participative Democracy (ADEPT)
Question: - The Parliament could vote for an electoral scale of 5%. What would this mean for Republic of Moldova?


Answer: - After the elections from 2005, when OSCE and the Council of Europe recommended Republic of Moldova to decrease the electoral scale, the electoral scale decreased from 6% to 4%. Now, we could record a growth of the scale to 5%. This means that the raise in the Parliament of some liberal parties could be delayed. I consider that it is early to speak about who could pass the electoral scale, but we can be certain about five-six factions able to gather a good percentage.


Question: - What would be the optimal scale for Republic of Moldova given the demographic indicators and the big number of parties?


Answer: - We have today 30 parties recorded in Moldova and other two parties which are to be registered soon. I consider that a scale of 4-5% is adequate, which also corresponds to the European norms. An electoral scale higher than 5% is already a problem.


Question: - In your opinion, why doesn\'t the European Commission recommend Moldova the growth of the electoral scale to 5%?


Answer: - When the scale was 6%, they proposed to decrease it. If at the beginning, it had been decreased from 6% to 5%, then it would have been good. Everybody would have been satisfied. But if we decreased it to 4% and then raise it again, the intention matters. And the intention show that we are scared of the scale of 4% and we want to bring the one of 5%. We will not raise it to 6% because we risk to be criticized. Now, for an electoral scale of 5%, Moldova will not be criticized, but it will be looked at with suspicion.


Publication date: 20 January 2008   

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