Early elections in less than 45 days

The Parliament passed in first reading a legislative initiative which says that the early parliamentary elections will be held in less than 45 days. Anatolie Zagorodnai, chairman of the legal commission for appointments and immunities, said that the legislative initiative proposed and adopted by the vote of the Communist MPs will provide the Central Election Commission with explanations and a legal framework for fixing the terms for implementing the electoral procedures in case of early parliamentary elections, Info-Prim Neo reports. Zagorodnai also said that the 45-day term is enough given that the early elections in February 2001 were organized in 44 days. “The people know the election platforms and programs of all the political parties that participated in the February-April election campaign,” Anatolie Zagorodnai said. The Opposition criticized the bill as it does not say exactly during how many days the elections will be prepared. Alexandru Tanase, MP of the Liberal Democratic Party, said that the electoral legislation is not modified according to the circumstances. “This legislative initiative does not provide exact terms. The major parliamentary group probably aims to pave the way for fixing the date of the early elections in 10, 15 or 30 days and the voter will remain uninformed,” said Victor Osipov, MP of Moldova Noastra Alliance. At Friday’s sitting of the Parliament, Vladimir Voronin said he would announce the election date next week. Most probably, this will happen on June 15.