The Constitutional Court on Wednesday, July 26, examined the Liberal Party’s challenge concerning the constitutionality of the President’s decree to hold a national consultative referendum. In the hearing, the Liberals insisted on declaring the decree unconstitutional, saying the President should deal with the people’s problems, as he promised in the election campaign, not with politics. For his part, the President’s representative said the referendum is consultative and has not legal effects and the President just wants to consult the people. The Court is to pronounce its decision on the challenge at 11am on July 27, IPN reports.
Under the presidential decree, the plebiscite will take place on September 24 and the people will answer four questions about the conversion of the emergency loans provided by the National Bank of Moldova to three bankrupt banks into a state debt, offering of additional powers to the President to dissolve Parliament in other conditions than the current one, opportuneness of reducing the number of MPs from 101 to 71 and teaching of the History of Moldova course in schools.
Liberal leader Mihai Ghimpu said the questions formulated by the President are irrational, in part camouflaged as an initiative to review the Constitution by eluding other conditional norms. They can generate social conflicts that would divide society based on ethnic and geopolitical principles at a time when the President should be the guarantor of national unity, according to the Constitution.
According to Mihai Ghimpu, the decree is a manipulating one. He said he regrets that in a period of socioeconomic crisis the President found love for politics, but not for the people’s problems. As to the question about the provision of additional powers to the Head of Stat, the Liberal leader said it is not clear in what circumstances this could dissolve the legislature, but the people should know this. He expressed his conviction that the referendum initiated by the President will not take place.
Adviser to the President Maxim Lebedinschi said the Liberals’ challenge is unfounded and contains political arguments. Society was divided by politicians. In a democratic state, the people should be able to state their opinion and the referendum is the most direct method of doing so. The plebiscite is consultative and will not have legal effects or force to review the Constitution and the President wants to know the people’s opinion so as to take other steps as a result. When the decree was drafted, the provisions of the Constitution and the Election Code were respected.
The Parliament’s representative at the Constitutional Court Valeriu Cuciuc said the problems of national interest addressed by the referendum weren’t debated publicly. In this case, the principle of transparency wasn’t respected. Before the decree was signed, the President didn’t cooperate with other powers of the state.
President Igor Dodon on March 28 signed a decree to hold a national consultative referendum. For organizing the plebiscite, the Central Election Commission agreed an expenditure estimate of 74.7 million lei. The Government earlier declared that money for holding the referendum wasn’t budgeted and the size of costs should be thus set by Parliament.
