The Parliament from Chisinau reduced the electoral threshold for the Parliament accession on Monday: from 6% to 5%. The minimum participation rate that validates the election was degraded as well, from half of the listed voters to one third.

The two Electoral Code amendments were voted by the 59 communist deputies, the majority parliamentary group. The opposition refused to take pat in the debates or to vote, the session resuming within 20 minutes. The opposition saved their declarations for the end of session, but communist Vadimir Voronin and his party colleagues left the room.

Previous to the elections on April 5, the Venice Commission recommended the Moldovan authorities to lower the electoral threshold from 6 to 4 percent and to allow the formation of electoral blocks and alliances. The latter are still forbidden by the communist rule.

Regarding to Electoral Code amendments on Monday, president of the Moldovan Liberal Democratic Party Vlad Filat declared on Friday, when the proposals were revised, that 1% was "dust in the eyes of the European authorities". He believed that lowering the participation minimum rate will reduce credibility in the future Parliament dramatically.

Participatory Democracy Association (ADEPT) political analyst Oleg Cristal considers that the lowering of the electoral threshold allows some political bodies, more cooperative with the current Government, to get into the Parliament, should a communist party member be elected as head of state. In his opinion, this measure will lead to the electorate dispersion, votes "stolen" from the current opposition parties.

Referring to the lowering of the elections validation level, he said this measure was adopted to make sure the votes scheduled for 26 July - a period for holidays - will be validated. Repeating the elections will not suit any