This was the conclusion reached by participants in a dialogue organized by the non-governmental organization Partnership Center for Development and UNDP, with support from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
“This quota applies to electoral lists, but it does not exist in the executive branch. A 40% requirement for the government did exist, but in 2017 it was converted into a recommendation without a threshold or sanctions. We propose to address this gap,” says Natalia Covrig, executive director of the Center for Partnership for Development.
“Democracy requires that every citizen not only be able to participate formally but also be represented in government. “That is why it is important to continue efforts to remove barriers for women, people with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups in public and political life,” noted Pavel Postica, vice-chair of the Central Election Commission (CEC).
According to the center’s study, people with disabilities, although they make up approximately 7% of the population and 5% of Moldova’s electorate, are not represented in parliament. Their participation in elections is hindered, in part, by inaccessible physical and informational infrastructure.
The authors also note that ethnic minorities are underrepresented, and data on candidates from these national communities are not systematically collected.
Therefore, they propose introducing additional measures to promote their candidacy: more favorable registration conditions (lowering the signature threshold for independent candidates), financial incentives for inclusive parties, and representation quotas at the legislative and executive levels.
The CEC is being tasked with systematically collecting and publishing data disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, and disability. State funds are also to be allocated to ensure the accessibility of polling places. In 2025, only about 5.67% of polling places were accessible, while more than 65% remained inaccessible. The plan also calls for ensuring the accessibility of information through sign language interpretation, captions, easy-to-read formats, and so on.
