Referendum on direct election of president to be organised in Moldova

Chisinau, 29 January /MOLDPRES/- The authorities ruled to accept organization of a constitutional referendum on direct election of Moldova's president, after more debates in the parliamentary majority .  Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu made statements to this effect at a today’s news briefing.

Candu said the decision had been taken, after considering the claims filed by the leaders of protesters, who had refused to attend the meeting today. “A dialogue means negotiation and not insistence. One cannot change the rules of a democratic game just by invoking the street. Nevertheless, we tried to find a few solutions and we accept organization of a constitutional referendum on the direct election of the head of state, and a law on the issue might be passed in parliament just at one of the first meetings,” the speaker said.

The other claims were tackled, such as: resignation of the heads of more state institutions. “As for resignations, I would like to talk to them. For instance, the mandates of the Central Electoral Commission's (CEC) members expire just in next February. We wanted to give them right to have a representative in this institution each. As far as the National Anticorruption Centre (CNA) and Prosecutor General’s Office (PG) are concerned, they are under reformation. The leadership of the National Bank is in resignation. A talk with protesters’ leaders was to be focused on this issue too. The list of claims also included the release of Grigori Petrenco. It would be illegally for us to intervene in this case, yet we propose to set up a parliamentary commission meant to monitor the situation and prevent possible abuses,” Andrian Candu said. 

Candu also said that the parliament’s dissolution, just as the protesters demanded, was impossible, as the institution could not dissolve itself, and the thesis saying that the government’s resignation would trigger snap polls was false, because under the legislation, another three months should pass till the swearing in of a new government. “The snap elections would complicate the situation in the country even more, and this might generate a deep financial and social crisis. Government means responsibility, as well as compromise, when needed”, the parliament speaker added.

On 28 January, the leaders of the three groups of protesters, Igor Dodon, Renato Usatii and Andrei Nastase said they would not participate in a meeting with Candu, but that they were expecting him at a civic forum for discussions.

(Reporter A. Zara, editor M. Jantovan)