Tiraspol, 18 May. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The president has signed a decree «On making amendments to the Electoral Code of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic», submitted by Supreme Council members.
This draft law was passed in the first reading on 11 May, despite all arguments against the reduction of the existing 50% minimum turnout voiced by the president's representatives.
The president's stance is that the superior bodies of power should be formed, taking account for the majority's opinion. The turnout threshold at the presidential elections in the PMR must be higher than that at the elections of other bodies of state power or local government. The head of the state is elected by all people, and the election of an «all-people's» president requires high electoral activity and the desire to participate in presidential elections.
The enactment of this norm will allow us to form state power bodies with regard for the opinion of the majority of voters, which undoubtedly will give more legitimacy to elected bodies, promoting the consolidation of power in the country, and enhance the work of election commissions at all levels, in particular as it concerns informing voters about the upcoming elections, about active electoral right and the manifestation of a civic stand," the president believes.
It is worth noting that the 50% minimum turnout was set for the presidential elections in Pridnestrovie in 1991. The statistics of the past presidential elections show that each time the actual turnout exceeded the established threshold.
Thus, 78 percent of voters came to polls in 1991, 57.1 percent in 1996, 62 percent in 2001, 66.1 percent in 2011, 58.8 percent in the first leg and 52.46 percent in the second leg in 2011.
«The statistics, cited by the draft law's authors, showing that the turnout at the 2015 parliamentary and local elections did not exceed 50 percent, appears to be irrelevant from the point of view of the different levels of presidential and parliamentary election campaigns," reads the decree.
The bill's authors' forecasts indicating that the presidential elections may be invalid are not based on the above mentioned presidential election statistics, and there are no grounds for such assumptions.
However, proceeding from the results of the 2015 parliamentary and local elections, the voter turnout exceeded 40 percent. Taking into account the fact that the 2011 electoral base had not changed by the 2015 elections (426,958 voters in 2011 against 424,508 in 2015), there are no grounds to reduce the minimal turnout at the presidential elections to 25 percent. Following the arguments presented by the bill's authors in this respect, the president proposes to set it at 40 percent.
The Russian legislation provided for a 50% turnout threshold at the presidential elections until 2007. The State Duma is currently considering a draft law suggesting a return to this condition of recognising elections valid.
