The Moldovan authorities must amend the legislation on the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia because it is imperfect. Namely the mistakes made in formulating this legislation almost 20 years ago led to the current state of affairs, when two referendums that the central authorities consider illegal are to be held in Gagauzia, political analyst Oazu Nantoi said in the program “Replica” on Prime TV. Constitutional expert Vitalie Catana said that in accordance with the supreme law, the initiative of Comrat is absolutely illegal. On the other hand, the secretary of the Party of Socialists Vlad Batrancea said the referendum is a fully democratic mechanism intended to find out the people’s opinion, IPN reports.
The Gagauz authorities intend to hold two referendums on February 2 – one on the external development direction of Moldova and the other one on the local population’s right to declare their independence if Moldova loses its sovereignty. The relevant decisions of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia were annulled by the Comrat Court, but the local authorities continue to prepare the plebiscites.
“The people in Gagauzia have nothing to do with this challenge. I think that Russia is trying to destabilize the situation in Moldova in order to hamper the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU, as it did with Ukraine. The central authorities do not show responsibility as the Law on Gagauzia should have been amended long ago. By the way, this pseudo-referendum will be supervised by no observers and there is no guarantee that the results will not be inflated. It’s only a political provocation. The politicians must intervene and modify the legislation on Gagauzia. The children there cannot study in the official language at school. Also, we cannot discuss with the local authorities in the official language,” stated Oazu Nantoi.
Vitalie Catana said that under the Constitution, the foreign policy is decided by Parliament. The Law on Gagauzia provides that plebiscites can be held only on problems concerning the region. “The referendum on the Gagauz people’s right to self-determination is also not in accordance with the Constitution as it questions the country’s statehood. There is now no problem as regards the joining of one of two bodies. The Association Agreement represents special relations with the EU, as those with the CIS. Why didn’t they hold referendums then? I hope that Gagauzia is not another Transnistrian region and an intelligent move of the central power will solve this situation,” stated the constitutional expert.
Vlad Batrincea said the party that he represents decided to support the two referendums as they are an absolutely democratic instrument for finding out the people’s opinion. What is the government afraid of? The authorities must consult the people about the decisions they take,” he said.
Under the Moldovan legislation, any referendum in the country must be held with the involvement of the Central Election Commission. In the case of the plebiscites in Gagauzia, the Commission wasn’t involved at all. About 150,000 people in Gagauzia are expected to take part in the two local referendums.
