16th Moldovan Parliament completes its term

The 16th Moldovan Parliament, elected on 6 March 2005, completed its full term on Saturday, March 7, but its mandate will be prolonged until the next parliament assembles. In this period, the current parliament has no right to amend the Constitution or pass organic laws. Yet it can still adopt decisions and ordinary pieces of legislation, Ion Creanga, lawyer of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections – 2009 Coalition, has told Info-Prim Neo. After the April 5 vote, the Central Election Commission (CEC) will present to the Constitutional Court, within 48 hours from the final count of the votes, the list of the elected MPs as well as of the candidates of the vacancy lists. Within 10 days from receiving the lists from the CEC, but not before all the possible disputes related to the election outcomes are settled, the Constitutional Court shall declare the elections either valid or invalid. At the same time, the Constitutional Court will validate (or invalidate) the list of the elected deputies and the un-elected candidates on the vacancy lists. If the results of the elections are validated, the CEC will issue mandates to the elected deputies. Later, within 30 days from validation, the incumbent President shall summon the newly elected parliament to assemble for the first session. So the next parliament is expected to sit for the first time in late April or early May. At the first plenary meeting, the MPs elect a chairman, usually the dean of the parliament, who declares the parliament assembled and reads out the decision of the Constitution Court. These formalities fulfilled, the parliament begins its work: the standing bureau and the chairmen of the specialized commissions are elected, and the parliamentary factions are formed. The first and perhaps the most important duty of the next parliament after inception will be to elect a new President. Ion Creanga believes that this process could take up to two months. The President is elected by the secret vote of 101 MPs, with a three-fifths majority required. If none of the candidates collects the required number of votes, a run-off will be held between the first two candidates who collected the most number of votes. If this second stage doesn't yield a winner, the voting will be repeated. If the repeat election fails again, the incumbent President shall disband the parliament and call an early legislative election. The Cabinet shall dissolve once the newly elected parliament assembles. A new Prime Minister, who is to form another Government, will be nominated by the President, following consultations with the parliamentary factions. Ion Creanga says that, theoretically, a new Government can be formed before the next president is elected. It could happen if a new coalition parliament fails to agree on the presidential nomination and decides to form a Government first. The 16th Parliament was elected on 6 March 2005 and sat for the first time on 24 March 2005. Three formations entered the Parliament initially – the Communists Party (PCRM), the Christian-Democratic People's Party (PPCD), and the Democratic Moldova Bloc (BMD) – but a faction headed by Dumitru Diacov separated from the latter shortly after inauguration, and thus two distinct parliamentary factions appeared – the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) and the Democratic faction (PD). An alliance with the once nationalistic Christian-Democrats, which was later dubbed as the Red-Orange Coalition, brought the Communists a comfortable majority in the Parliament, the possibility to appoint a Cabinet, and earned a second presidential term for the Communist leader, Vladimir Voronin.