At stake in this election:      

• 101 seats in Moldova’s Parliament (Parlament)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Nicolae TIMOFTI (since 23 March 2012)
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Lurie LEANCA (since 31 May 2013)
• Assembly: Moldova has a unicameral Parliament (Parlament) with 101 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is indirectly elected by parliament to serve a 4-year term.*
• The Prime Minister is designated by the President.
• In the Parliament (Parlament) 101 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.**

* If no President is elected after a repeat election, the acting President dissolves Parliament, and there are new legislative elections. Parliament may be dissolved once per year.

** Moldova operates as a single constituency for 101 seats in parliament. To enter parliament there is a three percent threshold for independent candidates, six percent threshold for parties, and a twelve percent threshold for electoral blocs consisting of more than two political parties. An election is valid only if one-third of registered voters turn out.

Election Note:

On Sunday 30 November 2014, Moldova will hold an election for Parliament (Parlament). A total of 26 participants have registered in this election: 21 political parties, 1 electoral bloc and 4 independent candidates.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova / Partidul Comuniştilor din Republica Moldova (PCRM)
  • Leader: Vladimir VORONIN
  • Seats won in last election: 42
• Party: Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova / Partidul Liberal Democrat din Moldova (PLDM)**
  • Leader: Vlad FILAT
  • Seats won in last election: 32
• Party: Liberal Party / Partidul Liberal (PL)***
  • Leader: Mihai GHIMPU
  • Seats won in last election: 12
• Party: Democratic Party of Moldova / Partidul Democrat din Moldova (PDM)****
  • Leader: Marian LUPU
  • Seats won in last election: 15
• Party: Christian-Democratic People's Party / Partidul Popular Creştin Democrat (PPCD)
  • Leader: Victor CIOBANU
  • Seats won in last election: 0
• Party: Social Democratic Party / Partidul Social Democrat (PSD)
  • Leader: Victor SELIN
  • Seats won in last election: 0
• Party: Ecologist Party of Moldova / Partidul Ecologist din Moldova (PEMAVA)
  • Leader: Vladimir BRAGA
  • Seats won in last election: 0

* The ruling coalition, Alliance for European Integration (AEI), lost a no-confidence vote on 5 March 2013. The Pro-European Coalition replaced the AEI.

** The PLDM is part of the Pro-European Coalition.
*** The PL is part of the Pro-European Coalition.
**** The PDM is part of the Pro-European Coalition.

 Last election:

• The last election to Parliament (Parlament) in Moldova was held on 28 November 2010.[i] Turnout was 63.37 percent and 1,733,051 of 2,734,700 people casted ballots.[ii] The Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) won 676,291 votes or 42 seats, while the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova won (PLDM) won 505,638 votes or 32 seats.[iii] Results can be seen here.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 3,583,288 (July 2014 est)[iv]
• Registered Voters: 3, 072,000 (Apprx) *