The Parliament of Moldova has so far rejected four referendum initiatives. “The Parliament, which is thought to be the most democratic institution, turned out to be the most reactionary. During 13 years, it rejected four initiatives for referendum – constitutional, consultative and legislative,” former adviser to ex-President Petru Luchinski on law matters Mihai Petrache has told Info-Prim Neo. The first referendum initiative was put forward by the Communists Party in 1997. The party suggested asking the people if the land should or shouldn’t be transformed into merchandise. The second referendum was requested in 2000 by the then President Petru Luchinski, who wanted the Constitution to be modified so that Moldova becomes a presidential republic. The third initiative was rejected in 2003. The Braghis Alliance proposed holding a legislative referendum to modify the electoral system. The initiative group collected 213,000 signatures that were validated by the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Constitutional Court. In Parliament yet the bill was accepted by only 11 MPs. 85 of the attending 96 MPs abstained. The last referendum initiative was submitted by the PLDM in 2008. The party proposed changing the procedure for electing the head of state and holding parliamentary elections according to a joint system – half by common lists and half by uninominal constituencies. The party’s leader announced they collected over 220,000 signatures in favor of the referendum, but they hadn’t been lodged with the CEC.