Moldovan top court dismisses initiative to revise Constitution provisions on president's election, dismissal method

Chisinau, 29 February /MOLDPRES/-The Constitutional Court (CC) today dismissed a joint initiative by the factions of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) and Party of Socialists (PSRM) to revise the Constitution’s provisions on the election and dismissal of the president by the people.

According to the top court’s decision, this provision creates confusion between the parliament’s criminal and political liability.

“The amendment to the Article 89 of the Constitution assigns the Supreme Court of Justice the jurisdiction to ascertain the president’s serious infringements running counter to the Article 135, paragraph 1, point f) of the Constitution, which enshrines the Constitutional Court’s exclusive competency to ascertain the circumstances that justify the dismissal of the Moldovan president, in his unique tenure of constitutional jurisdiction authority and guarantor of the Constitution,” the top court’s decision reads.

The court has also ascertained that this amendment is unconstitutional because it violates the limits provided for in the article No 142 of the Constitution, which sees that “provisions on the state’s sovereign, independent and unity character of the state, as well as provisions on the state’s permanent neutrality, may be reviewed only through their approval via a referendum, with a majority of votes of the citizens registered on electoral lists,” the Constitution states.

The Constitutional Court ruled that the legislative proposal on the revision of the Constitution cannot be submitted to the parliament for examination. The court’s ruling is final and cannot be attacked. It will enter into force upon its adoption date and shall be published in Moldova’s Official Journal.

A group of 37 Liberal-Democrat and Socialist MPs on 17 February, submitted a joint notification at the Constitutional Court, asking to review the Articles 78, 85, paragraph 4, and Article 89 of the Moldovan Constitution, which provide for the Moldovan president’s election and dismissal method.

(Reporter A. Plitoc, Editor A. Raileanu)