Materials to accompany an application for registration

ElectoralCode of Moldova (Revised 2012)
http://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/?pdf=CDL-REF(2012)039-e

Article144. Initiating Republican Referendum

(1)A republican referendum may be initiated by:

a)at least 200,000 citizens of the Republic of Moldova eligible to vote. In caseof constitutional referendum, provisions of Article 141 letter a) paragraph (1)of the Constitution shall be applied;

b)no less than 1/3 of the members of Parliament;

c)President of the Republic of Moldova;

d)Government.

(2)Those mentioned in paragraph (1) may initiate any type of referendum providedin Article 143.

(3)If the referendum is initiated by those mentioned in paragraph (1) letter a),signature collecting sheets shall be attached to the proposal on initiating thereferendum.

(4)The proposal on initiating the referendum shall include questions subject toreferendum stated clearly, avoiding ambiguities, as well as the aim of holdingthe referendum and its suggested date. Issues running counter to each othershall not be subject to referendum.

Article152. Initiation of Republican Referendum by Citizens

(1)To initiate a republican referendum, citizens shall establish a citizeninitiative group at meeting attended by at least 300 citizens eligible to vote.No later than 10 days before the meeting, the initiators shall notify inwritten form the local public administration authority of the locality wherethe meeting shall be held, time, place, and purpose of that meeting.

(2) Before the meeting, the participants shall be registered, their last and firstnames, place of residence shall be entered on a list. 

(3)A chairperson and a secretary of the meeting shall be elected. The meeting’sagenda shall include discussions whether it is reasonable to hold thereferendum and set up questions to be proposed for referendum.

(4)In the event that the majority of participants in the meeting vote for holdinga referendum, an initiative group shall be established to administer thesignatures’ collection. The group shall be composed of at least 100 citizenseligible to vote. The group shall elect from among its members the executivebureau including a chairperson, a vice-chairperson and a secretary who willrepresent the group and manage its activity.

(5)A protocol of the meeting shall be drawn up containing the results of the voteon the issues included in the agenda. The documents of the meeting - list ofparticipants, protocol, clearly and correctly stated questions proposed forreferendum, and list of the citizen initiative group members including theiridentity data, shall be signed by the chairperson and secretary of the meeting.

Article153. Registration of Citizen Initiative Group

(1)The citizen initiative group for holding the  referendum shall beregistered with the Central Election Commission. For registration, the group shallsubmit the following documents:

a)documents of the citizen meeting which elected the initiative group, attestedby the mayor of the locality where the meeting took place;

b)written statement of consent of the members of the initiative group to collectsignatures in supportof the referendum;

c)written application statement for registration.

(2)The Central Election Commission within 15 days of receiving the documentsmentioned in paragraph (1) of this Article shall adopt a decision regardingeither the registration of the initiative group or the refusal to register thegroup. The decision on the registration of the initiative group shall providethe terms for signatures collection, which may be no shorter than two monthsand no longer than three months.

(3)Upon registration, members of the initiative group shall be issued a specialdocument-card attesting their right to collect signatures according to the design established by the Central Election Commission.

(4)Information concerning registration of the initiative group and the questionssubject to referendum shall be made public through mass media.