The referendum proposed by President Maia Sandu and the consultations held at the Presidential Palace last week are the effects of a hidden agenda that is aimed at securing a new term for the incumbent President at any cost, chairman of the Political Party for People, Nature and Animals (PONA) Ion Dron stated in a press conference hosted by IPN.
According to Ion Dron, this referendum also pursues two secondary objectives. The public money that is to be spent on organizing the referendum should, according to the organizers’ plan, cover, even partially, the election campaign expenses of candidate Maia Sandu. Another objective is to obtain from the people, within this referendum, “a blank mandate” for the future negotiations that will most likely take place next year or in the years to come.
The PONA chairman noted that “falsehood and danger” are two main elements that today define Maia Sandu’s intention to organize the referendum. The first falsehood is juridical in character. According to the Electoral Code, the President of the Republic of Moldova has the right to only initiate a consultative referendum.
Inviting party leaders to the Presidential Office for consultations means nothing but exploration of the political ground in Chisinau in order to test the disposition of involvement in the referendum subject of as many parties as possible, and projection and crystallization, as a consequence, of a controlled opposition as a gallery for Maia Sandu in the march for the second term, said Ion Dron. He noted that the controlled opposition would have the task of contending in these elections with its own candidate, but with the handbrake because their actions will be directed “from the same laboratory” by those responsible for Maia Sandu’s campaign.
According to Ion Dron, the PONA Party is not against Moldova’s European course. It is in favor of an open dialogue in the interests of citizens and of mutually beneficial negotiations.
The PONA is in opposition to the current regime, which violates the country’s Constitution and laws. “They abusively restricted the freedom of expression. In governance, they renounced the principle of transparency and efficiency of public money, crippled till the end and put under political control the entire judicial system of the Republic of Moldova,” said the party’s chairman. The PONA is for a referendum on accession to the EU, but not this year and not concurrently with presidential, parliamentary or local elections. It urges to hold a referendum at least one year after the opening of the accession negotiations or after the conclusion of these negotiations.
Note: IPN Agency offers the right of reply to persons who consider themselves targeted in the news made from the statements of the organizers of this press conference, including by facilitating the organization of another press conference under similar conditions.
