The initiative group created by the Platform “Dignity and Truth” to collect signatures for initiating a referendum on the election of the head of state by the people’s vote gathered over 400,000 signatures for each of the four questions. The lists of signatures are to be presented to the Central Election Commission (CEC) on March 14, IPN reports.

Inga Grigoriu, a member of the initiative group, told a news conference that more than 1.6 million signatures were cumulatively collected for the four questions. These are the signatures of about 30% of the Moldovans eligible to vote. The signature collection campaign actually represented a kind of plebiscite showing that the people no longer want to be governed as now.

Andrei Nastase, the leader of the initiative group’s executive committee, said the signature collection campaign represented a historical event because they gathered almost two times more signatures than required. “This showed that the people woke up. We faced impediments too. We still have time to collect more signatures, but we hurry to present the signatures to the CEC before the expiration of the term in office of the incumbent President,” he stated.

According to the representatives of the initiative group, thousands of volunteers and supporters of different parties helped them in the process of collecting signatures.

The signatures were gathered with the aim of holding a constitutional referendum on the reduction in the number of MPs from 101 to 71, the limitation of the parliamentary immunity and the election and dismissal of the President by the people.