The problems identified by the Constitutional Court after the presidential elections of 2016 in its six recommendations haven’t been yet solved. Some of them were dealt with partially, while others persist. But the competent institutions that are directly responsible for this area were to inform about the removal of the impediments within three months. The moment is now opportune for the authorities, representatives of political parties and civil society to combine forces to remove the given impediments by the end of the current parliamentary session, which is by the end of July, Igor Boțan, executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT, said in a public debate titled “Why wasn’t the Constitutional Court heard in the problem of presidential elections?”, which was staged by IPN News Agency.
“One of these six recommendations refer to challenges – the way in which they are dealt with, especially on the election day. The second aspect is voting abroad and the Court insisted that this problem should be solved. The third problem is permission to vote abroad. The fourth is political corruption and rooting out of such noxious practices. The fifth refers to the way in which the Moldovan Metropolitan Church behaved in elections – the Court underlined the aggressive involvement of representatives of the Moldovan Metropolitan Church in the presidential elections. The sixth recommendation referred to the mass media, which are an instrument for exercising the power of influence on the people’s opinion,” stated Igor Boțan, who is the standing expert of IPN’s project.
According to him, the public call to combine forces so as to overcome the existing impediments that can affect the conduct of this autumn’s presidential elections, made by Promo-LEX Association, is very important and necessary. “Earlier today President Igor Dodon announced that he will propose that Parliament should set the presidential elections for November 1. This way, the electoral period is to start on September 1. This way, there is a period of two months and a half during which things can be arranged in a manner acceptable to everyone – the citizens, the politicians,” he stated.
Igor Boțan noted that Igor Dodon addressed the political leaders, asking them to make sure that things do not go beyond normality. The Head of State should be invited to help discuss and solve all the problems mentioned by the Constitutional Court and by national and international observers.
The expert reminded that the representative of the OSCE, while in Moldova on a visit this January, said that all the OSCE recommendations were compiled so as to help improve Moldova’s electoral legislation. The CC also works on amendments that should be included in the electoral and related legislation. A bill was drafted under the auspices of East Europe Foundation and the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections. “It is important that the framework and formula are identified this May so that the electoral legislation is improved by the end of the current parliamentary session, by the end of July, in accordance with the Constitutional Court’s recommendations. This is possible by concerted effort so that the upcoming presidential elections are not later suspected of noting being free and fair,” stated Igor Boțan.
The debate “Why wasn’t the Constitutional Court heard in the problem of presidential elections?” was the 132nd installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture through public debates” that are supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.