General terms

For the purposes of this Code, the following general terms shall be defined:

Campaign poster — photographs and other materials used by electoral competitors, candidates, trustworthy persons and/or participants in the referendum for the purposes of electoral campaigning or by the initiative groups and nominated candidates for pre-election campaigning;

Electoral campaigning — calls, declarations as well as the preparation and dissemination of information activities that have the aim to encourage voters to vote for some or for other electoral competitors or for one of the referendum options;

Pre-election campaigning — calls, statements, actions to nominate candidates in elections, preparation for the collecting signatures in support of candidates /for referendum initiation and collecting signatures, including all actions undertaken by the nominated candidate;

Voter — citizen of the Republic of Moldova eligible to vote;

Elections — in the absence of any specification, elections to the Parliament (hereinafter also - Parliamentary Elections), of the President of the Republic of Moldova (hereinafter also - Presidential Elections), of local public administration authorities (hereinafter also - Local Elections) as well as Referendums;

General Elections – any type of elections that are held, as a general rule, on a single day, on Sunday, in accordance with the act of establishing Elections, throughout the country;

Early Elections — elections held in the event of dissolution of the Parliament or early termination of the terms of office of the President of the Republic of Moldova;

Invalid Elections — thus declared by the decision of the Central Electoral Commission where the electoral body finds that the elections participation rate is below the limit laid down by the present Code;

New Elections — elections other than Early and Partial Elections;

Void Elections — elections declared void by the Constitutional Court - in case of Parliamentary Elections, Presidential Elections and Republican Referendum, or by the Central Electoral Commission — in case of Local Elections and Local Referendums, if infringements to the present Code have been committed in the process of elections and/or counting of votes, having influenced the results of voting and the seats allocation;

Partial Elections — elections held in case if following the General Local Elections, the Mayors or the established number of local councillors have not been elected in one or more electoral districts;

Regional Elections — elections held in the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia for the position of Governor (Bashkan) of Gagauzia, for the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia, and the referendum on questions which, in accordance with Law no. 344/1994 on the specific legal status of Gagauzia (Gagauz–Yeri), fall within the jurisdiction of the Gagauzia;

Electoral bloc of parties — voluntary union of two or more political parties, established for the purposes of joint participation in elections and registered by the Central Electoral Commission;

Electoral campaign — the period of activity conducted, under the conditions laid down in the present Code, in order to determine the voters to vote in order to choose one or another electoral competitor or to support one or another option to the referendum;

Candidate — a person nominated to run for an elective public office position on behalf of duly registered political parties or electoral blocs of parties;

Nominated candidate — person submitting an application or proposed by political parties, electoral blocs of parties or initiative groups to be registered as an electoral competitor or candidate on the list;

Independent candidate — person submitting his/her application for holding an elective public office position independently from duly registered political parties and electoral blocs of parties;

Certification of training/specialisation in electoral field — Procedure for attesting knowledge and competences in electoral matters, carried out by the Centre for Continuous Electoral Training, in accordance with the Regulation approved by the Central Electoral Commission, confirmed by the corresponding qualification certificate;

Electoral district — Administrative electoral unit in which the elections are being organized and held;
National district — National electoral district in which Parliamentary Elections, Presidential Elections and Republican Referendums are being organized and held;

Code of conduct — Agreement concluded between the electoral competitors/participants in the referendum and the representatives of the Media institutions on the conduct and coverage of the electoral campaign, excluding the damage of the dignity and image of the electoral competitors/participants in the referendum;

Collector — member of the initiative group collecting signatures in support of the candidate nominated for an elective position, including in support of his/her own application, or to initiate a referendum;

Electoral participant — political party, electoral bloc of parties, electoral competitor, nominated candidate, initiative group and participant in the referendum, who offers and/or benefits from the financial (material) support for the electoral campaign and/or its own activity, as well as a person who conducts only electoral campaign or promotion activities, which do not involve financial costs;

Electoral competitor:
a) political party, electoral bloc of parties and person who runs for the position of the Member of the Parliament and is registered by the Central Electoral Commission — in Parliamentary Elections;
b) a candidate that runs for the position of the President of the Republic of Moldova as well as the political party or the electoral bloc of parties that nominated the candidate, registered by the Central Electoral Commission – in Presidential Elections; c) political parties, electoral bloc of parties and person applying for the position of Mayor or councillor in the local council and are registered by the District Electoral Councils — in Local Elections; d) political party, electoral bloc of parties and person that runs for the position of Governor (Bashkan) of Gagauzia or a Member of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia, registered by the Central Electoral Council of Gagauzia – in regional elections;

Central Electoral Commission — independent and apolitical public authority, established for the implementation of the electoral policy, that has the task to ensure the organisation and conduct of elections, oversee and control of compliance with legal requirements on the financing of political parties and electoral campaigns;

Complainant— a party who submits complaints under the provisions of the present Code;

Complaint — written request, including a preliminary request, submitted by complainant, under this Code;

Statement of stay — actions by which the citizen eligible to vote declares his/her place of stay on Elections Day, to be included in the basic Voter’s List for the Parliamentary Elections, Elections of President of the Republic of Moldova and the Republican Referendums;

Detachment — partial or complete suspension of tasks and duties at the permanent workplace, simultaneously with hiring the person as an electoral official within the electoral bodies, maintaining the salary at the permanent workplace, in accordance with the labour legislation and the present Code;

Nomination of candidates — Procedure followed by political parties, electoral blocs of parties on adopting decisions on the candidatures for elective positions, conducted during the meetings of the competent bodies of political parties, electoral blocs of parties, in accordance with their Statutes or Founding Agreements, under the conditions laid down in the present Code;

Domicile — place where the natural person has his/her usual residence, confirmed by the Identity Card;

Electoral Right — constitutional right of the citizen to elect and be elected and to vote on the most important issues of the State and society as a whole and/or on local issues of particular interest;

Electoral equipment — ballot booths, ballot boxes, computers and other items with which the premises of the polling station are being equipped;

Electoral education — educational, apolitical activity carried out by civil society organisations and groups, by educational institutions, Media and other interested subjects, seeking to increase the degree of knowledge of citizens on the political and electoral processes, for the exercise of a conscious and freely expressed vote. Electoral education may be freely run by interested subjects, through seminars, training courses, roundtables, information camps, public electoral debates and other educational actions which are not regulated by the Central Electoral Commission or by other authorities;

Financing of electoral campaigns — direct and/or indirect financing, as well as material support by other forms, of electoral competitors/participants in the referendum, including voluntary activities and services provided free of charge to electoral competitors/participants in the referendum by natural and/or legal persons, where applicable, by the State;

Financing of the initiative groups — direct and/or indirect funding and material support by other forms, of initiative groups, including voluntary activities and services provided free of charge to the initiative groups, by natural and/or legal persons;

Financing of political parties — direct and/or indirect financing, namely, offering, allocating or transmitting to political parties the financial, material or other types of resources, including voluntary activities and free of charge services provided to political parties, by natural and/or legal persons, and the provision of funds in the form of allocations from the State budget;

Elective public position — public dignity positions or capacity of local elected official that is taken by the directly obtained mandate, as the result of elections, under the conditions of this Code. The general regime governing the public dignity office or local elected officials, the legal status of the persons holding those positions and other relations arising from the performance of those duties shall be governed by special laws;

Electoral officials — natural person that work or worked, under the requirements set out in this Code, as a member of the electoral body, an employee of the electoral body Office and/or employee in the public institutions and other organisational structures established by the Central Electoral Commission;

Initiative group — group consisting of citizens eligible to vote, registered under the conditions of this Code, to gather signatures in support of a candidate nominated to an elective position or to initiate a referendum;

List of candidates — list of candidates appointed by political parties or by the electoral blocs of parties to run in elections;

Signatures collecting list — list containing the signatures of voters supporting the candidate nominated to a public elective position or the initiation of a referendum, under the conditions laid down in this Code;

Basic Voter’s List — list comprising all citizens eligible to vote who have their domicile or temporary residence in the area of a polling station;

Supplementary Voter’s List — Voter’s List where are included voters eligible to vote in the relevant polling station, but have not been included on the basic Voter’s List of the respective polling stations;

Locality — territorial-administrative unit organised in accordance with the law (rayon, municipality, town, village (commune), administrative-territorial unit with special status);

Premises of the polling station — the place where the voters exercise their right to vote and where, as a general rule, the Precinct Electoral Bureau has its headquarters;

Minimum number of special places for campaign posters — specially designed places for campaign posters, situated in a locality. The boards for campaign posters shall be equally placed on the entire territory of the locality. The offered space for campaign posters, must be equally distributed among all electoral competitors/participants in the referendum or initiative groups;

Observer — person accredited under the provisions of this Code, who may represent local, foreign or international organisations or institutions and exercising the task of observing the process of organisation and conduct of elections; 

Operator of the State Automated Information System ‘Election’ — a person authorised under the established procedure to process the personal data of the voter physically present in the polling station, on the Elections Day and to record participation in voting, for non-admission of multiple vote;

Electoral body — body organising the conduct of Parliamentary Elections, Elections for the position of President of the Republic of Moldova, Elections of local public administration authorities, Regional Elections and Referendums;

Participant in the referendum — political party, electoral bloc of parties, President of the Republic of Moldova or Mayor in respect of which the referendum for dismissal/removal has been initiated, which shall be registered with that electoral body for participation in the electoral campaign for referendum;

Electoral period — the period between the day on which the act on setting the date of voting was adopted and the day on which the results of the elections are confirmed by the competent bodies, but not more than 120 days;

Person authorised to attend electoral procedures — Electoral official, operator of the State Automated Information System ‘Election’, representative of the electoral competitor/participant in the referendum by the electoral bodies, observer accredited by the electoral bodies and, where appropriate, his/her interpreter, as well as a journalist authorised by the Media institutions and subsequently confirmed by the Central Electoral Commission;

Report on the financing of the initiative group — Report of the initiative group on flows of funds, services and actions carried out free of charge, by natural and legal persons, voluntary activities, during the period of collection of signatures and other relevant information;

Report on the financing of electoral campaigns — Report of the electoral competitor/participant in the referendum on money flows, including accumulated incomes, sources of their origin, expenditure incurred during the electoral campaign, services and actions carried out free of charge by natural and legal persons, voluntary operations and other relevant information;

Report on financial management — Report of the political party on incomes received under the conditions established in the Regulation on the financing of the activities of political parties, approved by the Central Electoral Commission, and in the Law No 294/2007 on political parties, concerning their source of origin, expenditures incurred during the period of management and other relevant information;

Referendum — a voting in which the people express their opinion in the most important issues of the State and society as a whole, seeking to resolve them, or to consult citizens on local issues of particular interest, as well as the dismissal of the President of the Republic of Moldova or the dismissal of the Mayor of a locality;

State Register of Voters — single integrated information system of voters’ record keeping, an integral part of the State Automated Information System ‘Elections’, intended for the collection, storage, updating and analysis of information related to the citizens of the Republic of Moldova who have reached the age eligible to vote;

Register of electoral officials — database for the national record keeping of electoral officials, an integral part of the State Automated Information System ‘Elections’ indicating their names and forenames, the year of birth, the profession (occupation), position, place of work, telephone number, home/temporary address, the subject who appointed/nominated him/her and, in the event of participation in elections, indicates the date and type of those elections and their position in the electoral bodies or in the electoral bodies offices. The procedure for entering and evidence of data in the register shall be established by the Central Electoral Commission Regulation;

Administrative resources — human, financial and material resources equally available to persons holding public dignity position and responsible public positions, public officials, resulting from the control of such persons over the staff, funds and allocations from the national public budget, from access to public resources or from the management by such persons of movable and immovable property, falling under the public domain of the State or of territorial-administrative bodies;

Temporary residence — place where the natural person has his/her temporary or secondary accommodation, confirmed by the identity card;

Removal — early termination of the term of office by referendum, under the conditions laid down in this Code, or recall, by the Court, of the mandate of the persons holding an elective public position as well as ceasing to act as a member of the electoral body;

Polling station — electoral unit into which electoral district is divided, according to the number of voters and which shall be established by the electoral bodies, under the conditions laid down in this Code;

The State Automated Information System “Elections” — information system managed by the Central Electoral Commission intended for automation of the electoral process;

Treasurer — person responsible for the finances of the political party, of the electoral competitor, of the participant in the referendum or the initiative group;

Repeated voting — elections organised by the Central Electoral Commission where the elections have been declared invalid or void within the time–limits and under the requirements laid down in this Code.