United Moldova criticizes electoral amendments

The United Moldova Party intends to ask the advice of the Constitutional Court and the Venice Commission about the recent amendments to the Election Code, in particular that concerning the required voter turnout in a referendum. Vladimir Turcan, the party's leader, stated at a news conference on Tuesday the amendments could “shaken the legal safeguards of the constitutional provisions”. Turcan argues: under the current legislation, to amend the fundamental law it is necessary to muster two-thirds of the Parliament's votes, which means 66 out of 101 MPs, who in turn represent approximately 1 million voters. Following the amendments, however, the turnout required for a constitutional referendum to be deemed valid has been lowered to 883,000 voters (one-third of the eligible voters); this means that 441,667 yeas (half of the votes cast) are enough to make the change; in Parliament this would be equal to 28 votes out of 101. According to Turcan, this would enable the next governments to modify the fundamental law as they please, “relying on the so-called will of the people”. At the same conference, Vladimir Turcan was asked to comment on the recent departures from his party. Turcan said Valentin Guznac left United Moldova for the Democratic Party because he was forced to do so by an interpellation concerning the privatization of his apartment in Balti. Further, he praised Svetlana Rusu for having the courage to explain him personally her private reasons for leaving his party.