The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections made a public call to the Central Election Commission to enable the Moldovan citizens to vote with expired identification papers. In a news conference at IPN, the Coalition’s secretary Polina Panaite said that during three consecutive elections the last few years, the Moldovans abroad could vote with the expired passport.

The Coalition’s secretary made reference to a decision by the Supreme Court of Justice of 2014, which says that voting with expired documents is legal. Nadejda Hriptievski, a jurist of the Legal Resources Center of Moldova, said the permission to vote with expired documents is needed as the Republic of Moldova, through its consular offices and embassies, does not have technical and human capacitates to issue passports to all the citizens abroad whose papers expired.

Representatives of the bloc ACUM DA PAS said the Republic of Moldova becomes increasingly isolated on the international arena and the current government is to be blame for this. In a presentation in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, representatives of ACUM spread a barbed wire on which they put the portraits of those whom they consider to blame for the county’s isolation.

The candidate of ACUM in uninominal constituency No. 32 Mihai Popşoi said seven years ago important international leaders still visited Moldova, but such visits during the past two years were very few in number. He remembers the visit paid by the President of Turkey Recept Erdogan and no other important visits. President Igor Dodon has “flights” only to Moscow and visited no other countries. This happens also because of the policy pursued by the current government.

Maxim Lebedinski, the representative of the Party of Socialists at the Central Election Commission, described the current campaign as “the campaign of absurdity” as some of the electoral contenders go beyond the legal and moral limits and no measures are taken in relation to them, while were no violations are committed from legal viewpoint, they look for reasons to make interpretations and find alleged irregularities.

According to the head of the public organization “My Homeland Moldova” Artiom Guriev, the so-called rises in pensions and salaries and the so-called roads represent the agony of the current regime that is afraid to lose power. “We do not want the PDM and its vassals – the Party of Socialists and the Shor Party - to enter Parliament. We do not want the bloc ACUM and other unionist parties to enter Parliament. We urge to boycott the illegal referendum,” noted Artiom Guriev. The organization’s co-president Nelly Bartaș said the mixed system does not allow the citizens to boycott these elections as the voter turnout no longer maters. “Even if only Igor Dodon and Vlad Plahotniuc vote, the elections will be validated. But this is also not enough. The government wants to make sure, by reducing the number of MPs, that they spend less money for their corruption,” stated Nelly Bartaș.

If the idea of the referendum is implemented, it will strengthen the authoritarian regime in Moldova. According to Communist MP Inna Șupac, at first sight the questions put up for the referendum seem to enjoy support among the people, but the population should understand that it is not clear in what conditions the number of MPs can be reduced and, especially, in what conditions an MP can be recalled. “We, the members of the Communist group will be the first to be excluded as we refused to defect to the Democratic Party. Secondly, who are those who will judge? Who will decide if an MP fulfils his/her duties or not?” asked Inna Șupac.

The Moldovans who work in Spain will soon benefit from pensions and other social benefits. According to the National House of Social Insurance, the interlocutors discussed the Moldovan and Spanish legislation on pensions and the method of providing benefits in case of work accidents and professional diseases to insured citizens of the two states.

The sides agreed to open negotiations on a draft agreement on social security for protecting the interests of the citizens who worked legally on the territory of both of the states, regardless of the place of residence.

The Republic of Moldova in 2018 was visited by 4.3 million foreigners, a rise of 11.7% compared with 2017. The data were presented by the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure in connection with the launch of the 24th international exhibition “Tourism. Leisure. Hotels” on February 7.

The first trolleybus line that connects the capital city and a locality from outside the municipality of Chisinau was launched on February 8. This is trolleybus route No.36 that connects Ialoveni town and Chisinau municipality.

Details on IPN!