The candidates who, in the campaign prior to the presidential elections, promised to dissolve Parliament and cause early parliamentary elections if they win lied to the voters as the President of the Republic of Moldova does not have such powers stipulated in the Constitution, Anatolie Zagorodnyi, deputy chairman of the legislature’s commission for appointments and immunities, stated in the public debate “Relations between the branches of power in new conditions: between cooperation, early parliamentary elections, impeachment and …something else”, which was staged by IPN News Agency in partnership with Radio Moldova”.
“The Parliament and the current parliamentary alliance, which are accused directly by representatives of the presidential administration and the President, supported the idea of holding direct presidential elections and these took place and the best candidate won. The people chose their President, but those who ran for office knew from the start what powers the President has. The candidates, especially those who reached the runoff elections, said they will dissolve Parliament and will initiate early legislative elections if they win office. This was a lie told to the people,” said Anatolie Zagorodnyi.
He noted that attempts are being made to cause early parliamentary elections by announcing a consultative referendum for the people to say if they want the President to be empowered to dissolve Parliament. The negative consequences of such a referendum include significant expenses. Particular powers of the President related to the State Guard Service were limited, but the Constitution was amended to enable the President to name the prosecutor general.
According to Anatolie Zagorodnyi, the President must understand that he cannot deliver what he promised to the voters if he does not enjoy the support of the parliamentary majority. “We are now in a situation similar to that of the 1990s, when we had a President elected by the people, but this wasn’t supported by the parliamentary majority. The President said one thing, while the Government and Parliament did another thing. We are not in favor of provocations and will not support something like this. We invite the President to a dialog so as to solve the problems peacefully,” he said.
The MP also said that the current President politicized the presidential administration from the perspective of his electoral program. The parliamentary alliance is ready to discuss particular amendments to the Constitution, not yet as regards the powers of the President. “Nobody wants to undermine the authority of the presidential administration. We speak about a constructive dialogue with the President of the Republic of Moldova and call for a constructive dialogue to discuss the subjects from the parliamentary agenda of the spring-summer session, including through the angle of the electoral promises made to the people as we all want the people to live in a free and democratic society and with appropriate incomes for decent living,” he stated.
According to Anatolie Zagorodnyi, the President’s refusal to sign particular documents submitted by state institutions can cause stalemates and damage to the state, including pecuniary one.
“It smells of usurpation of power and the President can be held accountable for this. None of the members of the parliamentary alliance is in opposition to the President. On the contrary, we called for dialogue, but Dodon said from the beginning that he is in opposition to the current government,” he stated.
The public debate “Relations between the branches of power in new conditions: between cooperation, early parliamentary elections, impeachment and …something else” is the 69th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are organized with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
