Pelenia residents concerned local Communist councilors may hinder referendum in their village

The inhabitants of Pelenia village of Drochia district are worried that they will not be able to take part in the September 5 constitutional referendum as 14 of the 17 local councilors are Communists and oppose the plebiscite, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on July 29, Petru Postolachi and Grigore Palii from Pelenia said the villagers want the head of state to be elected by popular vote. “The President must be elected by the people so that they are the first to have audiences with him. Now the MPs and Prime Minister Vlad Filat are afraid to have audiences with the people. Why should they? We elected them. Should we go out and threaten to explode grenades in order to be heard?” Petru Postolachi asked. The two co-villagers said many of the about 6,000 Pelenia inhabitants with the right to vote work abroad and there are mainly pensioners in the village. “The pensioners are used to the Communist government and will obey the authorities loyal to the PCRM. Many of them do not intend to vote. Others say the referendum will produce no results,” said Grigore Palii. Petru Postolachi and Grigore Palii also said that the authorities are far from the problems experienced by the farmers. Therefore, they propose electing the MPs by constituencies in the future early legislative elections. “The seats of MP are bought. We want our own local MP who will come and talk to the farmers at least once a month,” said Petru Postolachi. “The MPs should be elected at least 50% by constituencies and 50% under electoral rolls.” On September 5, voters will be asked whether they are in favor or against amending the Constitution so that it allows for direct election of the head of state.