Former MPs in favor of current method of electing head of state

Former members of Parliament Anatol Plugaru and Mihai Petrachi suggest preserving the current method of electing the President of Moldova so that the Constitution remains unchanged. They consider the presidential election last yearend was held with serious violations and the election results should therefore be anulled by the Constitutional Court. They say the Constitution should not be amended as the country faces a political, not constitutional crisis. The former MPs made related statements in a news conference on February 17, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The current MPs flagrantly violated the Parliament's regulations, the law on the status of MP and even the Constitution of Moldova,” said Anatol Plugaru. “The legislation says the MPs are obliged to take part in the parliamentary hearings, but this does not mean that they can leave the assembly hall, including when they refuse to participate in the vote. Secondly, the method by which the MPs voted to elect the head of state cannot be named secret, as the laws requires.” “We propose that the MPs should appeal to the Constitutional Court and ask that the attempts to elect the President be invalidated as they were held with serious violations of the Constitution. The MPs should be able to cast their votes secretly, without being influenced by someone from outside,” said Plugaru Mihai Petrache said this is the only way out of the political crisis. “In the current format, the Parliament cannot modify the Constitution, while a referendum will not yield solutions as the society wants that the President be elected by secret vote.” Both Anatol Plugaru and Mihai Petrache expressed their regret at the fact that the Constitutional Court, as guarantor of the Constitution, does not take steps itself, but waits to be asked to do this. “The MPs either do not hurry to solve this problem,” said Plugaru. “The PCRM does not want because it blatantly broke fundamental laws, while the Alliance for European Interrogation is not interested in this.” The annulment of the results of the presidential election held at the end of last year will allow holding new elections, but in strict compliance with the law, the former MPs said.