When the number of signatures needed for initiating a referendum on the election of the head of state by the people are collected and these signatures are confirmed by the Central Election Commission, the legislative body wil have to take a decision on the opportunity or inopportunity of holding the plebiscite within six months. In an interview for Radio Free Europe, CEC secretary Andrei Volentir said the initiative will produce a result only when the lawmakers decide that holding such a referendum is opportune, IPN reports.

Andrei Volentir noted that if Parliament decides that the referendum should be held, a decision to this effect will be adopted and the CEC will have 60 days to organize the plebiscite. In 2003, when former political leader Dumitru Braghis, who was then an MP, gathered the necessary number of signatures for a similar matter, this was unable to bring the initiative to a logical end. “The given initiative gathered dust in Parliament during six months. When the period of six months expired, the lawmakers said the subject is no longer topical. It is Parliament that will ultimately decide,” he stated.

The CEC said that initially the supporters of this idea must hold a meeting to constitute the initiative group of at least 100 persons. The meeting must involve at least 300 persons. The initiative group is registered at the CEC based on the proceedings. The members of the group are accredited and are issued with permits for collecting signatures. The Commission prints the standard forms of subscription lists that include the question that will be put in the plebiscite.

The initiative group will have at most 90 days to gather at least 200,000 signatures from at least half of the territorial administrative units of the country. These lists will be submitted to the CEC for verification and validation. If the Commission establishes that all the signatures are valid and were collected legally, it will take a relevant decision and will submit it to Parliament for examination.

The Civic Platform “Dignity and Truth” on November 1created an initiative group that will collect signatures for initiating a referendum on the election of the head of state directly, by the people. The organizers set the goal of mobilizing at least 300 people who will go through the country to collect signatures.