President Nicolae Timofti rejected the Democratic Party’s candidate for Prime Minister Vlad Plahotniuc. Nicolae Timofti proposed identifying another candidate for premiership by January 14, 12 noon, IPN reports.

According to the presidential press service, the head of state on January 13 had consultations with representatives of the recently formed parliamentary majority. Nicolae Timofti was shown a statement signed by 55 MPs in support of the candidacy of the first deputy chairman of the PDM Vlad Plahotniuc for Prime Minister.

Making use of his constitutional right to assess the qualities, competence, experience and capacity of the candidate for premiership, the head of state decided to reject the candidate and informs the parliamentary majority and public opinion about this.

The President explains that he took his decision based on the Constitution’s provisions and the Constitutional Court’s decision of April 22, 2013, which stipulates that any political mandate must be based on high integrity standards and the appointment of persons suspected of lacking integrity to administrative posts is against the rule of law principles.

The head of state considers there are reasonable suspicions that Vlad Plahotniuc does not meet the integrity criteria required for being named as Prime Minister, given also the fact that by Parliament Decision, a no-confidence vote was given to Vlad Plahotniuc as First Deputy Speaker, he being accused of involvement in illegal activities that can affect the image of Parliament and of Moldova.