ECHR finds Moldova to be only country which, allowing the dual citizenship, interdicts holders to be elected to public positions

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) finds that the Moldovan Law interdicting to elect people with multiple citizenship to public functions is not justified and proportionate. Law 273 was sued by Dorin Chirtoaca, mayor of Chisinau and by lawyer Alexandru Tanase, a municipal councilor, who also have Romanian citizenship. On November 18, CEDO made its decision public concerning the case Tanase and Chirtoaca versus Moldova, the barrister of the two plaintiffs, Janeta Hanganu, told a news conference in Info-Prim Neo news agency. “It's Janeta's professional success. It's a special case. Its not a simple violation, easily found and proved. It's a matter more about a philosophical approach of certain rights,” Alexandru Tanase said. Both petitioners claimed that adopting an interdiction restricting the access of a large number of Moldovan citizens to the position of parliamentarians is an anti-democratic and disproportionate measure, as it was passed on the eve of the 2009 parliamentary elections. The Romanian Government backed the plaintiffs' position by a lodging a memo to the ECHR as a third party. The Court found inadmissible the part of Dorin Chirtoaca, considering he intends to keep its mandate of a mayor, and in the 2009 elections he will participate only to gather more votes for his party. According to the ECHR's findings, Moldova is the only country in the Council of Europe, which, although allowing the multiple citizenship, bans the holders to be eligible for public positions, including for the position of a parliamentarian. This is surprising especially because in 2002 and 2003, the Government allowed the dual citizenship, without mentioning eventual restrictions concerning the political rights. In the wake of the political developments from Moldova, of its historical and specific factors, the ECHR considers there is no justification for Law 273. This conclusion is consolidated by imposing this restriction less than a year before the parliamentary elections. The court cannot neglect the incompatibility of this law with the recommendations of the Council of Europe in the electoral domain and that the Government did not react in any way to the worried signals of the Council of Europe. According to those two lawyers, the Government made his defense on the argument that the public servants with multiple citizenship would not be loyal enough to the state. Yet the Court recommends the Chisinau Government to use other methods to insure the loyalty of the deputies, as the oath often used in European countries. The Court adds that in a democracy, the loyalty to the state does not necessarily means loyalty to the present governance of that state or to a certain political party. “The Court took into account our reason when we said this law will be used especially against the people with Romanian citizenship. In its observations, the Government focused on the so-called “Romanians' aspiration to assimilate the Moldovan people” and later to incorporate Moldova's territory,” Janeta Hanganu stated. The Law forbidding the holders of dual citizenship to be elected to public functions was adopted by the Parliament on December 7, 2007, as the plaintiffs sued it at the ECHR on December 27, 2007. On April 29, the act was promulgated by president Vladimir Voronin, and on May 13, 2008 it was published in “Monitorul Oficial”.