Some of the MPs consider the meeting held by the Supreme Security Council (SSC) on May 28, which centered on the dubious financing of political parties and election campaigns, is overdue. The President’s statements are electoral in character and can no longer be put into practice given that there is no functional Parliament, IPN reports.
According to representatives of Pro Moldova, the President’s decision to convene the SSC to discuss party and campaign funding has political undertones and can be described as interference in the electoral process as the election camping is underway. “It is a political action. The President can and should have a position, but this activism generates suspicions in the electoral period, when the President should temper the role of politician. Who to present the amendments to the legislation now to? To a Parliament that cannot now adopt any law,?” Pro Moldova Vlad Cebotari stated in the talk show “Ghețu Asks” on TV8 channel.
The representatives of the PPPDA also believe the SSC meeting was too late. “I don’t know if it is correct to do this in the election campaign. This meeting should have been held earlier. The prosecutor general made a statement in the meeting and he is right. We, being already participants in the electoral race, should not have access to information about other election runners. Such information can be used in the campaign,” said PPPDA MP Kiril Moțpan.
For their part, the MPs of the pro-presidential party defend the President, saying Maia Sandu brought back into focus the problem of illegal financing of parties and requested the responsible institutions to monitor this process. “It is a warning given to the public opinion, that our elections are usually rigged by parties by the financing method. Grand corruption is directly related to the way in which the parties are funded. It is good that the President raised this issue and warned everyone that this time the control on the part of the responsible institutions will be stricter,” said PAS MP Virgiliu Pîslariuc.
Convoked on May 28, the Supreme Security Council recommended the Central Election Commission to set up a working group consisting of representatives of a number of institutions, such as the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Security and Intelligence Service, which would identify the risks and would detect and investigate actions to illegally finance the campaigns of electoral contenders. Furthermore, the presidential administration will formulate proposals for amending the penal law and making the punishment for the illegal financing of parties and election campaigns harsher.