The Socialists have collected over 500,000 signatures and counting in support of a constitutional amendment to make Moldova a presidential republic, the party’s president Zinaida Greceanii told a talk show on NTV Moldova.

She said signature collecting efforts were under way on a large scale across the country, and less in the capital, where the Socialists had been busy until recently with a failed referendum to oust the Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca. “After the New Year celebrations, I believe signature collecting will take place massively in Chisinau, too”.

Zinaida Greceanii argued the Constitution must be amended to give the president more powers, as “only a presidential regime is able to get Moldova out of the existing chaos”.

“We aim to gather over a million signatures by the end of next March. With the signatures collected, we will assemble a pre-campaign party congress next year to incorporate the presidential state into our electoral program”.

Zinaida Greceanii gave the examples of Russia, the United States and Belarus as what she though were illustrations of dynamically developing countries owing to their presidential systems.