Chisinau, September 30, 2020 The signatory organizations, members of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (CALC), appeal to the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova: To organize genuine public consultations on draft law no. 263/2020, revised according to the recommendations of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR presented in the urgent joint opinion of August 19, 2020, To adopt in the final reading, with priority, the draft adjusted to the recommendations of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR, national missions and international election observation teams and to the proposals collected following public consultations, To decide on the immediate implementation of those technical provisions from project no. 263/2020 which does not affect the fundamental elements of the electoral law; On July 9, 2020, without organizing public consultations, the Parliament approved in the first reading the draft law no. 263 regarding the amendment of electoral and related legislation. The public consultations were organized by the Parliamentary Legal, Appointments and Immunities Committee only on July 14, 2020 and had a more formal character. All proposals made by civil society organizations, with some minor exceptions, were automatically rejected, without any explanation, by the Legal Commission at its meeting on July 15, 2020. On July 24, 2020, to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova, on behalf of the Parliament, requested the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR to provide an urgent legal opinion on draft law no. 263. On August 19, 2020, the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR issued an urgent joint opinion on draft law no. 263/2020. The authors of the opinion indicate that it is necessary to respect the principle of stability of the electoral law and that any fundamental change to be applied to the upcoming presidential elections in November 2020 must be adopted long before the electoral process. At the same time, the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR recommend the modification and application of the technical legislative provisions for the November 2020 presidential elections, provided that they are necessary and enter into force before the electoral process. On September 24, 2020, during the meeting between the representatives of the CEC, the Minister of Justice and the Venice Commission, one of the main topics of discussion referred to the opportunity of adopting the draft law no. 263/2020 until the date of the official launch of the electoral campaign, which will start on October 2, 2020. We emphasize the fact that up to now the Parliament has not fully resolved the six addresses formulated by the Constitutional Court when validating the presidential elections of October 30 (November 13) 2016. According to art. 281 of the Law on the Constitutional Court, a term of no more than 3 months is established for examining the observations (findings) of the Court and informing it about the results of the examination. The current version of the draft law no. 263 only partially answers the problems stated in the addresses of the Constitutional Court. At the same time, we repeatedly point out that the draft law no. 263 in its current version contains several controversial and even dangerous provisions for the fair and free conduct of electoral processes. The most problematic of these concern the coverage of the electoral campaign by the mass media, the activity of observers and the organization of the electoral process. Therefore, we consider that the draft law no. 263 must be returned as soon as possible to the work agenda of the Parliament, by adjusting the draft text to the recommendations of the urgent joint opinion of the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR and the subsequent organization of genuine public consultations, which correspond to the principles of an open dialogue .