When a country is planning significant changes to the Electoral Code, it must take into account several fundamental recommendations of the Venice Commission. Firstly, these changes should enter into effect at least a year before the election and all actors must know the rules of the game. About this have spoken the former CEC chairman Iurie Ciocan, and the MP Sergiu Sarbu - one of the most active MPs in the field of electoral changes.

Iurie Ciocan declared for that usually Deschide.MD the Venice Commission recommended changes to the Electoral Code which came into force for 6-12 months before the first ballot for which they were made. Further, the precise time is determined by the significance of these changes. However, the basic premise is that all actors (in this case: voters, political parties, candidates, institutions) know the "rules of the game". For this necessary expertise and many public debates.

"To my knowledge the next meeting of the Venice Commission will take place in mid-June, until then I think we will work to be obtaine an opinion on this project. It is a reasonable and I believe we will succeed until then," said Iurie Ciocan.

Asked if CEC is ready for such changes, Ciocan said that a similar system is already in place - the local elections which involve the uninominal vote. "As for technical and organizational terms I do not think we will have problems," Ciocan added.

The former CEC president said that on such changes should work entire groups in order not to repeat the situation in 2013 when PLDM and the Communists voted to switch to another system, and after two weeks PD and PCRM canceled it. "Then the main failures punctuated by the Venice Commission were the lack of representation of diaspora, the inhabitants of Transnistria and a very hasty procedure through which those changes were voted."

Iurie Ciocan said that it is premature to talk about the costs that impose these changes in the Electoral Code.

And the MP Sergiu Sirbu said that the recommendations of the Venice Commission and OSCE that the amendments of the electoral code are to take effect at least one year before the elections themselves.

"If these conditions will be satisfied there are no impediments to apply these changes to the elections in 2018. And we want to meet these standards," said the MP specifying that shortly the project with all those amendments to the Electoral Code will be registered in the Parliament.

--------------We remind you that Plahotniuc announced today that PD will initiate the uninominal vote in Parliament. That means people will vote each deputy party will be who in the Moldovan Parliament. Moreover, the Democrats want possibility that voters withdraw a deputy from office before its term expires, if it will not not meet the expectations of the people. The project will be sent to the Venice Commission for expertise.

----------President Igor Dodon is against these changes, just as the majority of parliamentary factions.