New draft Constitution transforms Moldova into semi-presidential republic

The new draft Constitution of Moldova that was presented by the constitutional reform commission on Saturday, March 20 provides for electing the head of state by direct vote, exercising the right to vote from the age of 16 and becoming MP at the age of 21. It says that the official language of the country is Romanian and that the districts will be replaced with sectors, Info-Prim Neo reports. The commission’s chairman Victor Popa said the new draft Constitution contains 31 new articles. Other articles have been modified and extended so that the new supreme law will include 156 articles, as against 143 at present. The new Constitution could be adopted only by the people and modified by referendum and in Parliament. Under the draft Constitution, Moldova will be a semi-presidential republic as the head of state will be elected by the people not by the Parliament as now. The head of state’s term in office remains four years. The candidates for presidency must be older than 40. The President could be dismissed by referendum. The persons who turned 21 can apply for legislative seats. As the Premiers, the MPs will be sworn in. Now the candidates can enter Parliament from the age of 18. Constitutional law experts provided two variants for the article concerning Moldova’s official language. The first variant says Romanian is the official language, while the second says the official language of Moldova is set by organic law. Victor Popa said the administrative-territorial organization will be modified after the local elections of 2011. Under the new document, the districts will be transformed into sectors that will have decentralized public services headed by underprefects. The persons will be eligible to vote from the age of 16, as in a number of European countries. “Legally, the person will come of age at 18, but become politically mature at 16,” Victor Popa said. The constitutional reform commission proposed that the term in office of the Constitutional Court judges should be nine years, while their number should be increased from six to nine. The prosecutors of the Prosecution General’s Office will be able to obtain the status of magistrate. The Supreme Council of Misstates will contain a prosecutors’ chamber and a lawyers’ chamber. The Prosecutor General will be named by the Parliament, but at the suggestion of the prosecutors’ chamber. Moldova’s Acting President Mihai Ghimpu asked the members of the commission to analyze the draft Constitution and present a final version on Wednesday, March 24. This version will be sent to the Venice Commission for approval. At Sunday’s meeting, the commission also discussed the law on the procedure for adopting the Constitution of Moldova. The law says the draft Constitution must be approved by referendum after it is adopted by the Parliament by a majority of votes in two readings. If there is a shortage of votes, the draft Constitution is considered null and void.