NGO says President should be elected by people

The Center of Public Authorities Monitoring and Initiatives called upon the parliamentary groups to amend Article 78 of the Constitution so that it allows for the direct election of the President, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communiqué from the nongovernmental organization. The NGO’s chairman Ion Dron stated that when the relevant amendments to the Constitution are made, Parliament should be dissolved and early legislative elections should be held in autumn, simultaneously with the presidential elections. “We do not say that this is the ideal variant from the viewpoint of party interests, but it looks a viable one for avoiding institutional crises in the future. An exercise of the kind involving all the parliamentary parties would exempt the state budget from incurring costs that may turn out to be useless,” reads the communiqué. The Alliance for European Integration announced that a constitutional referendum will be held by the end of April to simplify the procedure for electing the President in Parliament.