MCP TO PUT FORWARD ITS OWN PROPOSALS ON AMENDING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION PROCEDURE
26.03.2010
The [currently opposition] Moldovan Communist Party shall be putting forward its own recommendations and proposals on amending the existing rules of electing the head of state, one of the influential-most members of the MCP Political Executive Committee, MP Vadim Mishin, stated to the press.
As Infotag has already reported, on Thursday he was elected as Deputy Chairman of the new parliamentary ad hoc ‘commission for working out proposals for amending the presidential election procedure’, and stated, “The Communists shall take part in the work of this commission [of 11]. Moreover, we have already prepared our own proposals on amending the Constitution, but they pertain only to Article 78 that stipulates the said procedure”.
He reminded that Article 78, in its present shape, says that president is elected by three-fifths of parliamentarians – by 61 votes of the 101-member legislature. If the head of state fails to be elected in two attempts, the Parliament is dissolved, and an early parliamentary election date is officially set. There is yet another provision: early elections may be held only once in a year, but the legislation does not stipulate any deadline for dissolving the Parliament.
This very phrase, “only once in a year”, became an apple of discord between the MCP and the majority Alliance for European Integration. The Communists keep on claiming that “once a year” means once in a calendar year, i.e. if we had an early election in the year 2009 [on July 29], then we have the legal right to demand next election in 2010, even, suppose, on January 1. But AEI parties claimed no: once in a year means not earlier than in 12 months’ time. Therefore, according to their logic, if the previous Parliament was dissolved last June 16, then the next early election date may be set for not earlier than June 17, 2010.
Some provisions in the Moldova’s Constitution have been written in such an uncertain way that even the Constitutional Court appears to be unable to interpret such clauses definitely. Which was precisely the story with the “once in a year” definition: maximum the Court was able to do was to recommend the Parliament to clarify this question and adopt a clear, unambiguous wording.
Mishin said, “We suggest preserving the electing of president in parliament, and are going to propose that in the first round the president is elected with three-fifths – 61 votes, in the second round – with 56, and in the third – with a simple majority of 51 parliamentarians. If all the three attempts are unhappy, the Parliament is dissolved within maximum 10 days from the third attempt, and an early parliamentary election shall be held in 60 days’ time”.
He stressed that the Communists are traditionally open to discussing other variants of Constitution amending, but they stand principally against returning to all-nation election of president, which ‘old good past’ is being advocated e.g., by Liberal Democratic Party leader, Prime Minister Vlad Filat and Democratic Party Chairman Marian Lupu.
Another prominent member of the Communist Party, MP Mark Tkachuk, stated recently, “A direct election of president by the people will throw Moldova back into the 1990s, when the nation was suffering a bitter, ruinous confrontation between the president, parliament and government. That led to destabilization of the state power and, as a result, to impoverishment of the population”.
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