President Igor Dodon proposed a bill to amend the Constitution. The initiative defines five new cases when the Head of State can initiate the dissolution of Parliament. In a press briefing on February 28, Igor Dodon said he submitted a requisition to the Speaker of Parliament whereby he asks that the bill should be disseminated to the MPs, IPN reports.
The Head of State suggests amending Article 85 of the Constitution and asks for the right to be able to dissolve the legislative body after consulting the parliamentary groups. According to him, this mechanism is applied in France and ensures cooperation between the legislative and executive powers.
In the second case, Parliament could be dissolved by the President if this hasn’t implemented the people’s will expressed at a referendum during 12 months. ”National sovereignty belongs to the people who exercise it directly or through representative bodies in the forms defined by the Constitution. The effects of a consultative referendum cannot be denied by the legislature, which should be obliged to enforce these,” stated Igor Dodon.
The legislative body could be also dissolved if a referendum on the dismissal of the President has a negative result. According to Igor Dodon, this amendment is based on the suggestions of the Constitutional Court, the recommendations of the Venice Comino and the European practice. Such a constitutional provision exists in Slovakia and Austria.
In the fourth proposed case, the legislature could be dissolved if it hadn’t adopted the state budget law during two months of the start of the financial exercise. “As a result of an analysis of the process of adopting the annual budget laws for the last seven years by Parliament, it was established that these are adopted with great delays. The Constitutions of Estonia and Hungary contain such provisions that enable to dissolve the legislature,” said the President.
The dissolution of Parliament by a referendum initiated by the President is the last suggested case. According to Igor Dodon, now the Constitution does not contain clear provisions that would allow the people to penalize Parliament for the violation of the obligation to represent and promote the interests of the people. Such a practice is used in Estonia.
“The bill is proposed following the switchover to the direct election of the President, which entails the necessity of instituting efficient mechanism for balancing out the powers in the state, ensuring thus the Constitution’s coherence,” stated Igor Dodon.
He said he will call on the MPs to support the constitutional amendment proposal. If the proposal does not garner the necessary number of votes by March 24, he will initiate the procedure for reviewing the Constitution based on the people’s initiative.
Currently, the Constitution provides that the President can dissolve Parliament if the latter is unable to form the Government or the lawmaking process remains blocked for three months, after consulting the parliamentary groups. The legislature can be also dissolved if it does not accept the vote of confidence for forming the executive within 45 days of the first request and only after at least two investiture requests are rejected. There are also particular restrictions. Thus, Parliament can be dissolved only once in the course of a year and cannot be dissolved within the last six months of the President’s term in office and during a state of emergency, siege or war.
