The parliamentary majority approved the new Code on the Functioning of Parliament in the first reading. Earlier, the Government of the Republic of Moldova issued a positive opinion on the draft law on the condition that lawmakers follow several recommendations made by the cabinet.
The proposed changes include provisions intended to prevent political defection. Under the new rules, lawmakers would not be allowed to alter the political configuration established after parliamentary elections. Independent MPs who leave a parliamentary faction would also lose the right to join another faction.
Likewise, political parties that failed to enter Parliament after elections, as well as parties that authorities have banned or declared unconstitutional, would not be allowed to form parliamentary factions, according to the press service of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova.
At the same time, the government recommended adjustments to these regulations, noting that existing legislation does not formally define the term “political defection.”