Moldovan initiative group starts collecting signatures for organising referendum

Chisinau, 15 December /MOLDPRES/ - An initiative group has informed about starting the process of collecting signatures for holding a republican referendum on the revision of the Constitution.

The referendum provides for the withdrawal of MPs' immunity, cutting the number of lawmakers from 101 to 71, Moldovan president's election by direct voting, as well as the way the president is dismissed.

A member of the initiative group, Andrei Nastase, has said "the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has already issued the subscriber lists. Therefore, starting from today, collectors will go to all the country's settlements and will collect signatures. We need 360,000 signatures for each of the four questions of the referendum, and one person may be recorded in all the four lists."

Also today, representatives of the initiative group submitted an application to CEC, thereby "demanding issuance of additional subscriber lists, which are to meet the number of citizens with right to vote," Nastase added.

Under the procedure, 20,000 signatures from at least a half of the administratives and territorial units each are to be collected during 2-3 months.

After the signatures, their number, correctness of the collection are verified, CEC will have to approve the initiative and submit the file to parliament, which is to establish the date of the referendum.      

(Reporter A. Plitoc, editor M. Jantovan)