The ordinary or snap parliamentary and presidential elections cannot be held concomitantly, the Constitutional Court (CC) ruled after examining two requisitions filed by MPs Bolea and Sergiu Litvinenco, IPN reports.

In a press briefing, CC president Domnica Manole said that in the eventuality of having ordinary or snap parliamentary and presidential elections in the same period, the ban on the dissolution of Parliament during the last six months of the President’s term in office will be invalidated. Consequently, such a scenario will be unconstitutional.

Domnica Manole explained that by a decision of 2015, the CC held that the dissolution of Parliament during the last six months of the President’s term in office is permitted if the formation of the Government during three months was impossible. However, the interpretation of 2015 referred only to the situation when the President is elected by Parliament. This interpretation is no longer valid as the President is now elected by the people.

In the current context, given that the President is elected by the people and the continuity of the state bodies elected by the people needs to be maintained, the ban on the dissolution of Parliament during the last six months of the President’s term in office, which is defined by Article 85, par. (4) of the Constitution, is applied. “The fundamental law clearly bans the dissolution of Parliament during the last six months of the President’s term in office and does not envision exceptions from this ban,” stated Domnica Manole.

Domnica Manole added that the President has the right to resign if he considers necessary and if this decision is classed as a “voluntary and subjective” circumstance and is taken out of one’s own free will. The President cannot be obliged to fulfill his duties contrary to his will or conscience. Under Article 91 of the Constitution, if he vacates office, his duties are undertaken by the Parliament Speaker or by the Prime Minister, is the first does not do it.